The Catholic Spirit - June 10, 2021

JUNE 10, 2021 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

thecatholicspirit.com

Eucharist unites On feast of Corpus Christi, two St. Paul parishes walk together to bridge geographical, racial, cultural divisions — Page 6

JUST ORDAINED: MEET THE NEWEST PRIESTS IN THE ARCHDIOCESE — Pages 9-17 SUNDAY MASS OBLIGATION RETURNS 5 | FATHER McDONOUGH INVESTIGATION 7 | INDIGENOUS SCHOOL SHOCK 8 INTERSTATE’S HISTORIC IMPACT 19 | LITTLE WHITE LIES 21 | WHY I AM CATHOLIC 22

2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JUNE 10, 2021

PAGETWO These are topics that are essential for any Christian to grow in their faith, in learning to place our lives in God’s hands in a much more concrete, intentional way. And that gives us the freedom to say yes to what he asks of us, because we begin to grow in our relationship with him. We know that we can trust him and that he’s good and he loves us.

KEVIN J. PARKS, CATHOLIC REVIEW | CNS

AMERICA’S FIRST CATHEDRAL The afternoon sun shines through the dome of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore May 31 shortly after the conclusion of a Mass celebrating the 200th anniversary of the basilica’s dedication. The church was America’s first Catholic cathedral and is now the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s co-cathedral. It was the site of seven provincial and three plenary councils of Baltimore. The Catholic education system in the U.S. was developed in those councils as was the Baltimore Catechism, which laid the groundwork for millions who grew up in the Catholic faith.

Father Michael Zimmerman, assistant director of the Boston Archdiocese’s Office of Vocations, speaking about his online video series on vocation, “Scivias.” In the series, Father Zimmerman shares about his own journey and offers reflections about vocation, and he also articulates the difficult questions, struggles and insecurities that come up in discernment, and offers specific advice for how to pray and practice a good spiritual life during that process. “Scivias” premiered online April 13 through the Vocations Office’s Facebook page (@VocationsBoston) and YouTube channel.

NEWS notes Tricia Manuel, a member of St. Timothy of Maple Lake who also owns local business The Costume Shoppe and performs as the clown “Pricilla Mooseburger,” is the 2020 Volunteer of the Year, awarded for service and given to nominated members of the Catholic community by nonprofit Catholic United Financial of St. Paul. As COVID-19 hit, Manuel spearheaded a noon parking lot Mass and organized reception of the sacraments through the pandemic, served as fundraising chair for the annual parish festival and led a Thanksgiving meal effort collecting donations to deliver meals to the homebound and eight families in need.

Beginning this month, special votive Masses of the Holy Spirit and eucharistic adoration will be held monthly at parishes around the archdiocese through Pentecost 2022 to pray for the Archdiocesan Synod. The first Mass, which will include a Holy Hour with lectio divina, begins 7 p.m. June 17 at St. Pius V, 410 Colvill St. W., Cannon Falls. Subsequent Masses will be posted at archspm.org.

Starting with a 4:30 p.m. Mass with Bishop Andrew Cozzens presiding at Maternity of Mary in St. Paul, Catholic Watchmen is holding a Catholic Father’s Day family prayer and picnic June 19. A 1.5-mile eucharistic procession led by priests, deacons and laymen bearing an icon of St. Joseph and praying the rosary will follow the Mass, going through the neighborhood to Como Lake, then back to the parish for a freewill offering barbecue. More details, registration and a short promotional video for “‘Pillar of Families — Catholic Father’s Day” can be found at archspm.org/fathers.

BRITTANY HOSEA-SMALL, REUTERS | CNS

SAN JOSE MOURNING Alyssa Rubino and Christina Gonzalez hold a picture of their cousin Michael Joseph Rudometkin during a May 27 vigil for victims of a shooting at a rail yard operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, Calif. “May God comfort their families and loved ones and bring healing,” San Jose Bishop Oscar Cantú said via Twitter. “Pray also for all the first responders and law enforcement officers. May shock & grief give way to healing and grace, as we work together to protect the innocent and prevent such senseless acts in the future, so that peace may prevail in our hearts and communities.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Religious Freedom Week is June 22-29. The theme is “Solidarity in Freedom.” Visit usccb.org for the week’s daily prayer intentions.

As summer travel — armchair or in-person — begins, The Catholic Spirit asks: What pilgrimage experience made a difference in your life and why? Send responses of 200 words or less to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Readers Respond” in the subject line. Your reflection may be included in a future edition of The Catholic Spirit.

PRACTICING Catholic On the June 4 “Practicing Catholic” show, host Patrick Conley interviews Kim Bennecke and Marie Zeismer, who talk about what it’s like to move a pregnancy resource center. The other two episodes feature Nell O’Leary from Blessed Is She, who describes upcoming weekend “Fly Revivals” for women, and Erika Kidd from the University of St. Thomas, who discusses the role of women in the Church. Listen each week on Fridays at 9 p.m., Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com, soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic or tinyurl.com/practicingcatholic.

The Catholic Spirit is published semi-monthly for The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

United in Faith, Hope and Love

Vol. 26 — No. 11 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher MARIA C. WIERING, Editor-in-Chief JOE RUFF, News Editor

The Association of U.S. Catholic Priests is gathering in Minneapolis June 21-24 for its 2021 Assembly. Speakers include Father Michael Joncas, artist in residence and research fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, and Bishop Richard Pates, a Twin Cities native and bishop emeritus of Des Moines, Iowa. The association plans to honor archdiocesan priest Father Harry Bury June 23 with its St. John XXIII Award for his commitment to justice and nonviolence.

The annual Peter’s Pence Collection will be taken in local parishes June 26-27. The fund supports Pope Francis’ charitable work. In March, the Vatican’s prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy said that the Vatican, which anticipates a deficit of 49.7 million euros ($60 million) in its budget for 2021, due in part to COVID-19, aims to bring more visibility and transparency to its finances. According to Catholic News Service, the Vatican’s budget released publicly in February consolidates funds from the Peter’s Pence collection with all “dedicated funds.”

Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka is launching a year of celebration June 1112 in honor of its 75th anniversary. The weekend will include 40 hours of eucharistic devotion, a 4:30 p.m. June 12 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda, the blessing of a new Immaculate Heart of Mary statue and reflection area, and an outdoor social and chicken dinner. ihm-cc.org.

ON THE COVER Father R.J. Fichtinger of St. Thomas More in St. Paul holds up the Eucharist in a monstrance on the steps of St. Thomas More at the end of a procession that began a mile away at St. Peter Claver to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi.

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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FROMTHEBISHOP ONLY JESUS | BISHOP ANDREW COZZENS

Marriage is the foundation of every vocation

I

n the last few weeks, we have celebrated two very special sacraments that are deeply connected. Archbishop Hebda ordained seven new priests at the Cathedral May 29, and the following Saturday, June 5, also at the Cathedral, he celebrated the gift of the sacrament of marriage at a special Marriage Day Mass. Many people, however, might not see the deep connection between these two sacraments.

In modern times, perhaps no one has written more beautifully about marriage than St. John Paul II in what has become known as his “theology of the body.” Between 1979 and 1984, he gave 129 lectures in his Wednesday audiences that provide an in-depth exploration of the complementarity of man and woman and the beauty of the vocation of marriage.

However, the pope’s insights are not only valid for those called to live the sacrament of marriage. He points out that marriage is the paradigm for salvation given us in the Scriptures, and thus becomes the paradigm for every vocation, including consecrated persons and priests.

St. John Paul’s insight is biblically based. He points out that the Bible is fundamentally a story about marriage. The Bible is the story of God’s covenant with us, and the main image used in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation to describe the covenant is the image of marriage. The story of salvation is a story of God’s pursuit of his people whom he has espoused as his own.

Isaiah 54:5 says, “For your husband is your Maker; the LORD of hosts is his name,” and whenever the people are unfaithful to God’s covenant, he accuses them of adultery.

The salvific meaning of marriage takes on even deeper meaning through Jesus’ incarnation. St. John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the bridegroom who has

El matrimonio es la base de toda vocación

E

n las últimas semanas hemos celebrado dos sacramentos muy especiales que están profundamente conectados. El arzobispo Hebda ordenó siete nuevos sacerdotes en la Catedral el 29 de mayo, y el siguiente sábado 5 de junio, también en la Catedral, celebró el regalo del sacramento del matrimonio en una Misa especial del Día del Matrimonio. Sin embargo, muchas personas podrían no ver el profunda conexión entre estos dos sacramentos.

En los tiempos modernos, tal vez nadie haya escrito mejor sobre el matrimonio que San Juan Pablo II en lo que se conoce como su "teología del cuerpo". Entre 1979 y 1984, pronunció 129 conferencias en sus audiencias de los miércoles que brindan una exploración en profundidad de la complementariedad del hombre y la mujer y la belleza de la vocación del matrimonio. Sin embargo, las intuiciones del Papa no solo son válidas para aquellos llamados a vivir el sacramento del matrimonio. Señala que el matrimonio es el paradigma de salvación que nos da la Escritura y, por tanto, se convierte en el paradigma de toda vocación, incluidos los consagrados y los sacerdotes.

La visión de San Juan Pablo está basada en la Biblia. Señala que la Biblia es fundamentalmente una historia sobre el matrimonio. La Biblia es la historia del pacto de Dios con nosotros, y la imagen

come for his bride (Jn 3), as his act of creating new wine at the Wedding Feast of Cana clearly symbolizes (Jn 2).

St. Paul brings together this marital theology of the Old and New Testament when he explains the sacrament of marriage in Ephesians. There he points out how husbands must love their wives, “even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her.” All this culminates in the book of Revelation, which describes heaven as a great wedding when the Church-bride, and all her members, becomes one with her bridegroom eternally.

It was the centrality of the image of marriage in the Scriptures which caused the Fathers of the Church and St. John Paul to say that in some way every person is living marriage through baptism. For the Fathers of the Church, the cross was the consummation of the marriage of Christ with the Church. This was the moment when Christ poured out his life for the Church, his Bride. They saw in the water and blood that flowed from the side of Christ on the cross a fulfillment of the story of Eve being taken from the side of Adam.

Here the new Eve, the Church, is taken from the side of the new Adam, her bridegroom. This is symbolized by the water of baptism and the blood of the Eucharist, which make the Church his bride.

The Church Fathers also explained how the Eucharist, which makes present the sacrifice of the cross, was a wedding feast, where we become one flesh with Christ, our bridegroom, through holy Communion. (As a side note, this is why our Cathedral has an elaborate baldacchino over the high altar. It models the Jewish custom of having a canopy over the couple making their marriage vows. The canopy over the altar is the sign that what happens under it is a marriage.)

It was this insight — that the Eucharist is a wedding feast — that led the Fathers of the Church and St. John Paul to speak about the priest as a living image

principal que se usa en la Biblia desde Génesis hasta Apocalipsis para describir el pacto es la imagen del matrimonio. La historia de la salvación es una historia de la búsqueda de Dios por su pueblo, a quien ha desposado como propio.

Isaías 54: 5 dice: “Porque tu marido es tu Hacedor; el SEÑOR de los ejércitos es su nombre ”, y cuando el pueblo es infiel al pacto de Dios, él los acusa de adulterio.

El significado salvífico del matrimonio adquiere un significado aún más profundo a través de la encarnación de Jesús. San Juan Bautista identifica a Jesús como el esposo que ha venido por su esposa (Jn 3), como claramente simboliza su acto de crear vino nuevo en la Boda de Caná (Jn 2). San Pablo reúne esta teología marital del Antiguo y del Nuevo Testamento cuando explica el sacramento del matrimonio en el capítulo 5 de Efesios. Allí señala cómo los maridos deben amar a sus esposas, “así como Cristo amó a la Iglesia y se entregó a sí mismo por ella. . " Todo esto culmina en el libro de Apocalipsis, que describe el cielo como una gran boda en la que la novia de la Iglesia y todos sus miembros se vuelven uno con su novio eternamente.

Fue la centralidad de la imagen del matrimonio en las Escrituras lo que hizo que los Padres de la Iglesia y San Juan Pablo II dijeran que de alguna manera toda persona vive el matrimonio a través del bautismo. Para los Padres de la Iglesia, la cruz fue la consumación del matrimonio de Cristo con la Iglesia.

Este fue el momento en que Cristo

of the bridegroom of the Church. When a priest stands at the altar and says the words of Jesus in his person, and through the power of the sacrament re-presents the wedding feast of the Cross, he is standing there representing Christ the bridegroom.

This is central to the reason that the priest lives celibacy. Like Christ, who through his celibacy and also his obedience and poverty, lived completely for his bride the Church, the priest, too, who stands at the altar and acts in the person of Christ, must imitate his way of life. This was the subject of a book I wrote this last year, “A Living Image of The Bridegroom: The Priesthood and the Evangelical Counsels” (The Institute for Priestly Formation, 2020). In this book, I explore how the salvific truth of marriage in the Scripture, most especially the life of Christ, the bridegroom of the Church, calls a priest to make a gift of his life through living the evangelical counsels of obedience, celibacy and poverty. This was originally my doctoral dissertation published in 2008, but I tried to make it more readable for the average person.

The point is to say that those who live marriage and the priesthood have a lot in common. Both of them are trying to live out the truth of marriage revealed in the Bible — most especially, the truth of the love of Christ, who lays down his life for the Church his bride.

Wives and husbands are called to imitate this through the daily sacrifice they make for each other and for their children. Priests and religious are called to imitate this in the daily sacrifices they make for Christ and his Church. Even single people must learn to make a gift of themselves for Christ in some way to fulfill their baptismal call to union with their bridegroom.

All of us who seek to live our vocations well are preparing ourselves for marriage, the great wedding feast of the Lamb where we will be one with him forever.

derramó su vida por la Iglesia, su Esposa.

Vieron en el agua y la sangre que fluían del costado de Cristo en la cruz un cumplimiento de la historia de que Eva fue tomada del costado de Adán. Aquí la nueva Eva, la Iglesia, se toma del lado del nuevo Adán, su novio. Esto está simbolizado por el agua del bautismo y la sangre de la Eucaristía, que hacen de la Iglesia su esposa.

Los Padres de la Iglesia también explicaron cómo la Eucaristía, que hace presente el sacrificio de la cruz, fue una fiesta de bodas, donde nos convertimos en una sola carne con Cristo, nuestro esposo, a través de la santa Comunión.

(Como nota al margen, esta es la razón por la que nuestra Catedral tiene un elaborado baldacchino sobre el altar mayor. Modela la costumbre judía de tener un dosel sobre la pareja que pronuncia sus votos matrimoniales. El dosel sobre el altar es la señal de que lo que sucede bajo es un matrimonio.

Fue esta intuición, que la Eucaristía es una fiesta de bodas, lo que llevó a los Padres de la Iglesia y a San Juan Pablo a hablar del sacerdote como imagen viva del novio de la Iglesia. Cuando un sacerdote se para en el altar y dice las palabras de Jesús en su persona, y a través del poder del sacramento re-presenta la fiesta de bodas de la Cruz, él está parado allí representando a Cristo el Esposo.

Esto es fundamental para la razón por la que el sacerdote vive el celibato. Como Cristo, que por su celibato y también por su obediencia y pobreza, vivió completamente para su esposa la

Iglesia, también el sacerdote, que está en el altar y actúa en la persona de Cristo, debe imitar su forma de vida. Este fue el tema de un libro que escribí el año pasado, “Una imagen viva del novio: el sacerdocio y los consejos evangélicos” (Instituto para la Formación Sacerdotal, 2020).

Lea una versión más larga de esta columna en español en TheCatholicSpirit. com.

OFFICIAL Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:

Effective June 1, 2021 Reverend Michael Daly, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Helena in Minneapolis. Father Daly is returning from a leave of absence for discernment of religious life.

Reverend Jonathan Kelly, assigned as Rector of the Saint John Vianney Seminary at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul. Father Kelly was previously assigned as formator and spiritual director at the Saint John Vianney Seminary in Saint Paul.

Deacon James Reinhardt, assigned to exercise the ministry of a permanent deacon at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Bloomington. This is in addition to his current assignment at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis.

PLEASE TURN TO OFFICIAL ON PAGE 6

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From right, Dave Kemp and his son Jay install a grave marker at Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights May 26, as they work to prepare the grounds for an anticipated uptick in visitors Memorial Day weekend.

Even though, for the second year in a row, the annual Memorial Day Mass and commemoration gathering was canceledMarch due 9, 2017 to COVID-19, cemetery staff still expected lots of people to spend time at their loved ones’ graves. “We get about 150 to 200 (markers) in the spring of the year” that they couldn’t place during the winter, said Dave Kemp, 69, strategic planning and projects manager who has been working at Resurrection 1984Sister Avis St. Joseph ofsince Carondelet Allmaras,cemeteries center, talks with Rose Carter, and began working at Catholic and Irene Eiden at Peace House in in 1969. “And, the goal isleft, to get them done south Minneapolis Feb. 27. Sister Avis (installed) by Memorial Day.” workload goes toThat the center weekly — and visits frequent guests like Carter. Eiden, of plus installing up to 50 monument foundations St. William in Fridley, is a lay consociate — keeps the four full-time grounds workers, of the Carondelet Sisters. Peace House is including his son, busy all spring. it’spoor a and homeless. a day shelterBut, for the “It’s a families, real privilege to know these people labor of love to help grieving Kemp and hear their stories,” Sister Avis said. “I said. “From when I first started in the field … could not survive on the streets like they I always wanted to provide … somebody do. There are so many a gifted people Said Carter Sister Avis: “She’s little moment of comfort here.” and relief fromoftheir an angel. She hides her wings under that grief and try to make it easier for them,” sweatshirt.

She truly he is an angel.” said. “I like to see peopleDave walk away (from Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit the cemetery) with a smile on their face.

That makes me feel goodCelebrating because I’ll saysisters to myself, ‘We were successful today.

We made National Catholic Sisters Week is 8-14.And, An official component of somebody’s life a little bitMarch better.’ by doing Women’s History Month and that, my life became better.”

‘Angel’ among us

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THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5

After 16-month dispensation, Sunday Mass obligation returns July 1 across Minnesota State’s bishops: ‘Wherever you may be, welcome home!’

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit Minnesota’s Catholic bishops have reinstated Catholics’ obligation to attend Sunday Mass and holy days of obligation, beginning the weekend of July 3-4.

In March 2020, the state’s bishops suspended public Masses and granted a dispensation from Catholics’ ordinary Sunday Mass obligation, due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota. Many parishes pivoted to livestreamed Masses and prayers during this time to continue ministering to parishioners.

In May 2020, the state’s bishops permitted public Masses to resume for those who wished to attend in person, but retained the general dispensation of the Sunday obligation, meaning Catholics were not obliged to attend Mass on a weekend or on holy days of obligation.

“Parishes have done an amazing job creating safe spaces for worship and the sacraments during the past year,” the bishops said in a joint statement issued through the Minnesota Catholic Conference June 3. “Now, as the pandemic subsides, and public gathering restrictions and safety protocols are lifted, it is time to gather as the Body of Christ once again.”

The state’s bishops emphasized that attending Mass in person and receiving the Eucharist “are vital” to Catholics’ lives.

“We were created for Communion,” they wrote. “Whether you are returning to your home parish, or seeking a local parish on vacation, your participation in the Mass unites you with the Church — the Body of Christ. This communion transforms us as persons and enables us to make manifest the Kingdom of God in our world. The celebration of the Eucharist truly is the source and summit of our faith.”

In a June 3 letter to Catholics in the archdiocese, Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis shared

the news of the dispensation lifting and encouraged Catholics to read the bishops’ statement. He also reflected on the past year.

“Many of you have generously shared with me over the past 15 months stories of how difficult the pandemic has been on you, your loved ones, your jobs, your parishes, your communities and beyond,” he said. “So many have lost so much, including family and friends.

Please join me in remembering those who have died and those among us who continue to grieve their loss.”

He applauded the work of doctors and other health care workers “who risked their own health and safety to help others in the midst of the pandemic,” noting that his appreciation has grown for people who work in health care and emergency services.

“These women and men continue to exemplify real charity and courage as they move from treating COVID-19 patients to resuming their assigned roles in our clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities,” he said. “I am truly grateful to them and to their family members, who also endured heightened risks to health and safety.”

He also thanked all the faithful in the archdiocese.

“Some of you have sacrificed Sunday and daily Mass attendance for more than a year to minimize the risk to the loved ones with whom you live, and often for whom you care, and to the healthcare personnel who would have to care for you in the event that you became ill,” he said. “You have shared with me the heartbreak you experienced by not being able to receive our Lord in the Eucharist. Many others, thankfully, have been able to safely return to inperson Mass since the end of last May due to the diligence and extraordinary coordination and safety protocols put into place by our dedicated priests, parish staffs and volunteers.”

He continued: “These same teams also worked creatively, instituting parking lot Masses and initiating efforts to make the Mass available through livestreaming and digital ministries. The generosity of so many has kept our parishes open and operating — providing support and services to our sisters and brothers who count on them for spiritual assistance

STATEWIDE RESOURCE The website backtomassmn.org connects its visitors with parishes anywhere in Minnesota, with clickable portals that take visitors directly to parish listings for each of the six dioceses. It also offers FAQs on returning to Mass. and accompaniment and even social services.”

He also thanked parish and school staffs, whose “hard work and flexibility during constantly changing conditions and directives made it possible for the work of Christ to continue.”

“The hard work of our parishes and school staff have allowed us to gather safely throughout this year,” he said.

“That safety has only increased as we gratefully see so many signs that the pandemic is receding.”

With these “positive developments,” he encouraged people who have stayed away from in-person Mass to return.

“We know that we need the strength that comes from the sacraments in order to live our Christian life and we know that our parish communities are not complete without you,” he said.

While the general dispensation of the Sunday and holy day obligation has been lifted, “the Church has always recognized that certain circumstances can excuse a person from the requirement to observe the obligation,” the bishops noted in their joint statement.

Those circumstances include: 1. You have reason to believe your health would be significantly compromised if you were to contract a communicable illness (meaning, you have underlying conditions or are in a high-risk category).

2. You exhibit flu-like symptoms.

3. You have good reason to think you might be asymptomatic of a contagious illness (for example, you were in recent contact with someone who tested positive for a contagious illness such as COVID or influenza).

4. You care for the sick, homebound or infirmed.

5. You are pregnant or you are 65 years of age or older (per the Centers for

Disease Control’s recommendation for high-risk individuals).

6. You cannot attend Mass through no fault of your own (no Mass is offered; you are infirm; or, while wanting to go, you are prevented for some reason you cannot control, such as your ride did not show up).

7. You have significant fear or anxiety of becoming ill by being at Mass.

“If situations 1 through 3 apply to you, prudent concern for your neighbor should lead you to stay home,” the bishops said. “If you fall within situations 4-7, please exercise good judgment, consider the common good, and know you would not be held to the obligation of attending Mass. For further questions about the application of any of these situations, please contact your pastor.”

The bishops said that the categories that excuse a person from their Sunday Mass obligation will be reviewed and revised as needed.

Catholics who are not obligated to attend Mass for the reasons above must still observe the Lord’s Day, the bishops stated. They “are encouraged to spend time in prayer on Sunday, meditating on the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection,” the bishops said, adding, “an excellent way to do this is by praying the Liturgy of the Hours and participating in a broadcast/livestream of the Sunday Mass.”

More information is available at backtomassmn.org.

“The return of our faith family to Mass is a joyous occasion,” the bishops said. “With that in mind, we also encourage the faithful to post on social media about their return-to-Mass worship experiences using the hashtag #backtomassmn. Wherever you may be, welcome home!”

The statement from the state’s bishops was signed by Archbishop Hebda; Bishop Andrew Cozzens, auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis; Bishop John Quinn of WinonaRochester; Bishop Donald Kettler of St. Cloud; Bishop Daniel Felton of Duluth; Bishop Richard Pates, apostolic administrator of Crookston; and Msgr.

Douglas Grams, diocesan administrator of New Ulm.

St. Patrick in Shieldsville prepares to host Rural Life Sunday Mass June 27

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit When St. Patrick in Shieldsville hosts the archdiocese’s annual Rural Life Sunday Mass June 27 at 10:30 a.m. in the church parking lot, it plans to roll out the welcome mat — and a hay wagon for the celebrant, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, as well as an organ on wheels.

St. Patrick started using the church parking lot and wagon last Easter as the COVID-19 pandemic began so that its parochial administrator, Father Thomas Niehaus, could continue to say Mass in person for parishioners. Parishioner Dan Pumper’s family donated the hay wagon to serve as a movable, elevated platform, and parishioner Jake Simones built a canopy to protect Father Niehaus from the elements.

“I told Father Tom that he’d need to put up the first few bales of hay when

we start haying,” joked Pumper, 44, a sixth-generation parishioner and parish trustee.

Outdoor Masses were held at St. Patrick through the first weekend in November last year, when Masses moved indoors, with COVIDrelated precautions and livestreaming.

Masses resumed outside June 6.

Shieldsville is about 10 miles northwest FATHER of Faribault. Father THOMAS NIEHAUS Niehaus said Rural Life Sunday is a chance to show the connection between rural families, the connection those families have to the land, and the way of life in rural areas.

“God gave us a responsibility to share not only in the preservation of our natural resources,” he said, “but

to communicate to others that this is part of our praising the Lord and giving thanks.”

Pumper estimates about half of the 240 registered parish families are farmers, and the number of parishioners is growing. He gives much of the credit to Father Niehaus.

Ordained in 2008 for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Father Niehaus ministered in southern Minnesota parishes prior to his appointment in the archdiocese in 2019. He was formally incardinated into the archdiocese last year. In his role today, he serves a parish cluster that includes the merged parishes of Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery and St. Canice in Kilkenny.

The annual Rural Life Sunday Mass is typically held on a farm. Last year’s event was not held due to COVID-19.

While this year’s attendees won’t be at a farm, they will get a glimpse of rural parish life. Every parishioner

has a niche, Pumper said, whether maintenance or bookkeeping or cleaning or organizing. He is amazed at how parishioners quietly take care of things when they see a need. In a small parish, he said, “things just get done.”

That’s true even of surprising needs.

Simones, the husband of the parish music director, Alissa Simones, worked with his nephews and Pumper to build a cart to hold the church’s organ so that it can easily be wheeled outdoors, including for Rural Life Sunday Mass.

Catholics from across the archdiocese are encouraged to attend the Mass.

Guests can bring lawn chairs to sit in the church lot or grassy area, or listen to Mass on their car radio. Refreshments and a to-go snack will be served.

Father Niehaus hopes that people from the area will participate “and join in the praise of God for all that the Lord has done and thank God for the life he has given us.”

LOCAL

6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JUNE 10, 2021

Parishes show ‘sign of unity’ in joint procession

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit A stiff southwest wind whipped over the Interstate 94 bridge at Lexington Avenue June 6, as Father R.J. Fichtinger of St. Thomas More in St. Paul raised a monstrance holding the Eucharist and offered a blessing for St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood. The short stop on the bridge was part of a joint event by St. Thomas More and St. Peter Claver parishes to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the body and blood of Christ.

As the priest stood looking down at the freeway from the overpass, he was well aware of the fallout that took place more than 50 years ago when a thriving African American community in St. Paul was geographically split by the construction of an interstate highway that many in the community did not want — a move that still stirs emotions today.

Awareness of that history is precisely why the march south from St. Peter Claver to St. Thomas More just over a mile away paused briefly on the bridge: so people could pray for peace and healing.

“It’s a good drop in the bucket,” Father Fichtinger, a Jesuit priest, said of the overpass prayer. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and no single action will be the action that undoes years of challenges and fighting and pain. But it is a good step in the right direction.”

The idea for the two parishes to come together for Mass at St. Peter Claver and a eucharistic procession afterward came from the pastor of St. Peter Claver, Father Erich Rutten, who called the event “a gift of the Holy Spirit.”

“We have been working with St. Thomas More for several years on racial reconciliation,” Father Rutten said. “And so, it came to me that this (procession) … could be a sign of unity. … It’s for Rondo, but it’s also for our country — for racial reconciliation and peace. We want to just ask the Lord to bless us with unity and peace.”

Dozens of people from both parishes, ranging from toddlers to the elderly, joined the procession, with St. Peter

New chapel the star of SJV seminary’s planned expansion

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Father R.J. Fichtinger of St. Thomas More in St. Paul carries the Eucharist in a monstrance over the Interstate 94 bridge in St. Paul during a procession June 6 that began at St. Peter Claver to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. At left is Clare Shavor, a parishioner of St. Thomas More, and at right (in white vestments) is Father Erich Rutten, pastor of St. Peter Claver.

Claver’s Cameroon choir providing lively music all the way through. It ended on the steps of St. Thomas More, where Father Fichtinger raised the monstrance and blessed the crowd.

“I loved the procession,” said Nicola Alexander of St. Peter Claver, whose daughter joined her and was an altar server at Mass. “It shows the joy. I think it’s about the joy of the body of Christ.”

Two months earlier, the two parishes hosted prayer gatherings during the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder April 20 in the death of George Floyd May 25, 2020.

The two parishes have also shared book studies and discussion sessions focusing on racial justice. Alexander, who has been a member of St. Peter Claver for the past 21 years, has participated in the discussions.

Teklay Hashel, also a St. Peter Claver parishioner, attended the Mass and procession with his wife and daughter, Inedi, who marched near the front with two other young girls, all of whom wore white dresses. He recalled taking part in eucharistic processions in his native country of Eritrea, and is

OFFICIAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Effective June 9, 2021 Reverend Michael Barsness, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Mary in Le Center, the Church of Saint Henry in Saint Henry, the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Marysburg, and the Church of the Nativity in Cleveland. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Savage.

Reverend James Bernard, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Stephen in Anoka. Father Bernard was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 2021.

Reverend William Duffert, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Saint Paul. Father Duffert was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 2021.

Reverend Brian Fischer, assigned to the eremitical life at the Holy Trinity Hermitage in Stillwater. Father Fischer was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 2021.

Reverend Louis Floeder, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of the Divine Mercy in Faribault and the Church of Saint Michael in Kenyon. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Stephen in Anoka.

Reverend Colin Jones, assigned as formator and spiritual director for the

glad to be continuing the tradition in the U.S. He moved to the United States in 1993 and joined St. Peter Claver shortly after he arrived.

“I’m really so happy to see it,” he said of the procession. “It felt like Jesus was with us. … It was good to see two churches united and celebrated for one aim — for Jesus.”

Father Fichtinger said processing with Catholics from the two parishes was “an incredible experience of just witnessing the body of Christ, being able to see how our one tradition can still unite us, even though we have some cultural differences.”

“There’s so much in our current events that makes us feel helpless,” Father Rutten added. “We don’t know what to do. It (racial injustice) seems bigger than anything we can do.”

But, coming together to pray and bring the Eucharist into the Rondo neighborhood “is a big way to say, ‘Lord, we ask for your blessing, we ask for your power, we ask for your intervention to bring peace and healing,’” he said. “I don’t know what the result of that will be. I just give it to the Lord and ask God’s blessing.”

Saint John Vianney Seminary in Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Wayzata.

Reverend Bruno Nwachukwu, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Joseph in West Saint Paul. This is a transfer from his current assignment as hospital chaplain of North Memorial Medical Center and as sacramental minister of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Medina and the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle in Corcoran.

Reverend Michael Reinhardt, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of All Saints in Lakeville. Father Reinhardt was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 2021.

Reverend Josh Salonek, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint John Neumann in Eagan. Father Salonek was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 2021.

Reverend Timothy Sandquist, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of the Holy Family in Saint Louis Park and as chaplain to Chesterton Academy in Hopkins. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Mary in Le Center, the Church of Saint Henry in Saint Henry, the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Marysburg, and the Church of the Nativity in Cleveland.

Reverend Timothy Wratkowski, assigned as parochial vicar of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Wayzata. This is a transfer from his current assignment as parochial vicar of the Church of Saint Joseph in West Saint Paul.

“The heart” of St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, as Rector Father Jonathan Kelly described the facility’s chapel, will undergo a major change next year when the current space is demolished and replaced with a larger chapel. It will include a confessional, wooden pews (instead of chairs), shrines for Mary and St. Joseph, and a 1,500-square-foot choir loft.

The chapel is where seminarians learn to recognize the voice of God and receive the courage to follow his will for their lives, Father Kelly said. However, current seminarians and staff don’t all fit in the existing chapel, part of the SJV residence at the University of St. Thomas.

The renovated chapel will serve the daily liturgical and formation needs of the seminarians “and will leave an indelible impression on the entire campus,” he said.

The existing 1,600-square-foot chapel and about 1,400 square feet of adjacent space will be demolished and replaced with a four-floor, nearly 23,000-square-foot addition.

“We’re not really taking up much more footprint,” said Father Kelly. “We’re just making better use of that footprint.”

Built in 1982, the existing building is “a beloved but tired dormitory that we’re turning into a first-class seminary to match our program that is recognized nationwide as a premiere formation program for college seminarians,” Father Kelly said.

The main reason for the renovation and expansion is that formation is much different than it was when the facility was built 39 years ago, Father Kelly said, when the focus was on academics, and not the comprehensive formation the seminary offers today. That means more priests and program space are needed, he said, “to accommodate formation as it needs to happen to prepare our men for today’s realities.”

Other improvements will include rooms for all priests to live in residence, guest rooms and a small chapel for visitors.

Retirements Effective June 30, 2021 Reverend Rodger Bauman, granted the status of retired priest. Father Bauman has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1982, most recently as pastor of the Church of the Guardian Angels in Oakdale.

Reverend Thomas Kommers, granted the status of retired priest. Father Kommers has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1980, most recently as pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph in Red Wing.

Reverend Thomas Krenik, granted the status of retired priest. Father Krenik has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1977, most recently as pastor of the Church of the Risen Savior in Burnsville.

Reverend Paul Moudry, granted the status of retired priest. Father Moudry has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1987, most recently as pastor of the Church of Saint Frances Cabrini and the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Minneapolis.

Reverend Phillip Rask, granted the status of retired priest. Father Rask has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1972, most recently as pastor of the Church of Saint Odilia in Shoreview.

Reverend Michael Van Sloun, granted the status of retired priest. Father Van Sloun has served the Archdiocese as a priest since his ordination in 1995, most recently as pastor of the Church of Saint Bartholomew in Wayzata.

JUNE 10, 2021

LOCAL

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7

CathSpMM-Mar-June-2021.qxp_Layout 1 3/23/21 3:16

Investigation: Priest used poor judgment, but can remain pastor

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit After an investigation into Father Kevin McDonough’s work addressing clergy sex abuse allegations in the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for nearly two decades, a review board has recommended that some of his actions as vicar general should bar him from leadership roles in the archdiocese, but that he is considered fit for his current parish ministry assignment.

Father McDonough served in safe environment leadership positions from 1995 to 2013, first while the archdiocese’s vicar general and moderator of the curia from 1991 to 2008, and then as leader of the archdiocese’s Office for Protection of Children. His duties included overseeing investigations into clergy sex abuse allegations and providing services to victim-survivors.

In a June 3 statement, Tim O’Malley, the archdiocese’s director of ministerial standards and safe environment, stated that over the years, “some have questioned whether he (Father McDonough) properly exercised his authority during that timeframe,” which included decision-making about the since-laicized priest Curtis Wehmeyer. (See sidebar: “How we got here.”)

In June 2015, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed a civil petition and criminal charges against the archdiocese for failing to protect children from Wehmeyer. Those charges were resolved in December 2015 and July 2016, respectively, in part through an agreement between the RCAO and the archdiocese that outlined actions the archdiocese would take or continue to strengthen its safe environment standards, which included the RCAO’s oversight for four years.

As the legal matters were being resolved, the archdiocese’s Ministerial Review Board, which reviews all cases of clergy misconduct in the archdiocese, was tasked with investigating Father McDonough’s role in the archdiocesan sexual abuse crisis.

“The MRB serves as a consultative body to advise the Archbishop and his staff regarding clergy misconduct,” O’Malley said in the June 3 statement.

“One of its duties is to examine allegations of misconduct against priests and then make recommendations to the Archbishop and the Director of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment (OMSSE) regarding the priest’s fitness to engage in ministry.”

The MRB consists of 10 members, including seven lay people, one priest, one deacon and one sister.

One is a victim-survivor of clergy sexual abuse. Three have law degrees.

One is a medical doctor, and two are psychologists. Nine are Catholic. The non-Catholic is Patty Wetterling, child advocate and mother of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old who was kidnapped and murdered in 1989. The Board’s chairperson, Jeri Boisvert, is the former head of the Minnesota Office of Justice and a longtime parishioner of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

According to the statement, the MRB’s investigation of Father McDonough’s role in the archdiocese’s sexual abuse crisis was “comprehensive”

and “exhaustive.”

“Investigators reviewed thousands of pages of memoranda, emails, letters, depositions, policies, statements, publications, police reports and court filings” and interviewed 16 witnesses, said O’Malley, a former judge and Minnesota law enforcement leader who joined the archdiocese’s leadership in 2014 to overhaul its safe environment efforts.

“All information gathered was provided to the MRB by these investigators,” he said. “In addition, two victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse appeared before the MRB to FATHER KEVIN provide information MCDONOUGH and express their concerns regarding Father McDonough.

Additionally, the OMSSE provided the MRB with detailed information regarding Father McDonough’s interactions with specific offending priests, including some of the priests cited by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office in its criminal and civil complaints.”

O’Malley said that Father McDonough participated in the investigation process.

“He was given access to the same information and the questions that had been raised concerning his conduct, and he was permitted to provide his explanation and rationale,” he said.

“Father McDonough appeared before the MRB and responded to all questions posed by MRB members.”

The MRB concluded “that Father McDonough had not always demonstrated sufficiently sound judgment in handling allegations of ministerial misconduct or in attending to his duties to prevent harm and create safer environments,” O’Malley said.

“Although the Board found that Father McDonough did not intend for harm to occur, they concluded that harm did occur,” he said. “In addition, based on concerns about Father McDonough’s past conduct while in leadership, the MRB also concluded that Father McDonough failed, albeit not intentionally, to adequately keep children safe and recommended that he should be barred from similar leadership roles at the Archdiocesan level going forward.”

They also found that Father McDonough “does not present a risk” and recommended he “be considered fit for his current assignment” as pastor of Incarnation in Minneapolis, where he has ministered since 2008.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda has spoken with Father McDonough and has accepted the MRB’s recommendation, O’Malley said.

“The MRB also urged Father McDonough to consider his level of responsibility and take steps to promote greater healing in the Archdiocese, including participating in a restorative justice effort,” O’Malley said. “As an effort toward this goal, in May of 2021, retired Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and restorative justice expert Janine Geske facilitated a restorative justice session in which Father McDonough, two survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and two priests participated.”

HOW WE GOT HERE Curtis Wehmeyer, who was arrested in 2012, has pleaded guilty to abusing three brothers, parishioners of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul where he ministered as a priest from 2006 to 2012. In October 2013, the St. Paul Police Department began an investigation into archdiocesan leadership’s handling of the case.

Its findings revealed, through documents and depositions, that Father Kevin McDonough and others were aware of several instances of misconduct by Wehmeyer, which, although not sexual abuse, raised serious concerns about his fitness for ministry. They also were aware that he had been accused of breaking archdiocesan safe environment policy by camping alone with minors, and they had received reports of concern from laity and clergy about Wehmeyer’s interactions with others.

The police investigation into Wehmeyer’s abuse led to an archdiocesan task force commissioning an outside firm to review its clergy files for sexual abuse claims and the disclosure in December 2013 of 33 names of priests credibly accused of abuse. That list has since grown to more than 100 priests, 43 of them with allegations that occurred outside the archdiocese.

Also in 2013, the Minnesota State Legislature lifted for three years the statute of limitations on historic sexual abuse claims, which resulted in more than 450 claims of clergy sexual abuse against the archdiocese. The archdiocese declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2015, which was resolved in December 2018, with a $210 million settlement for victim-survivors, some of whom have publicly criticized Father McDonough’s handling of their allegations.

In June 2015, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed a civil complaint and criminal charges against the archdiocese alleging that the archdiocese had failed to protect children from Wehmeyer.

Those charges precipitated the resignation that same month of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche as archdiocesan leaders, and the Holy See’s assigning Archbishop Bernard Hebda to oversee the archdiocese. Father McDonough was among former archdiocesan leaders whose actions were detailed in the charges, although the RCAO did not charge any individuals in the case.

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Geske has been assisting the archdiocese since 2018 with wider restorative justice efforts, including healing circles with victim-survivors, clergy and laity.

Father McDonough declined to comment beyond the archdiocese’s statement. He was ordained in 1980 and was a longtime pastor of St. Peter Claver in St. Paul, overlapping for a time with his assignment to Incarnation. He is known for being an attentive pastor and advocate for Black and Latino Catholics.

In a statement to The Catholic Spirit, Archbishop Hebda said he is grateful to the MRB for taking on the investigation and, based on his experience of their work, has “great confidence” in their recommendations.

“I was saddened to hear once again details of the ways in which the Church at times failed those who had come forward to say that they had PLEASE TURN TO INVESTIGATION ON PAGE 23

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8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT JUNE 10, 2021

NATION+WORLD Through USCCB, Bishop Cozzens preparing to lead National Eucharistic Revival Catholic News Service Ahead of the bishops’ spring assembly, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington has appointed Father Jorge Torres, a priest of the Diocese of Orlando, Florida, to help implement a planned multi-year National Eucharistic Revival.

Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, USCCB general secretary, announced the appointment of Father Torres as a specialist for the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis June 7 and thanked Orlando Bishop John Noonan for releasing the priest for service to the USCCB. In his new role, effective July 12, Father Torres “joins the conference as the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis begins the promotion of a National Eucharistic Revival to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist,” the news release said.

This eucharistic initiative is part of the USCCB’s 2021-2024 strategic plan, “Created Anew by the Body and Blood of Christ: Source of Our Healing and Hope.”

Planning for the National Eucharistic Revival has been taking place for over a year.

According to a background document distributed to bishops in advance of their June meeting, Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis, chairman of the evangelization committee, leads a bishops’ advisory group on the National Eucharistic Revival made up of chairmen of other committees or representatives of those committees, including doctrine, vocations, divine worship, Hispanic affairs, pro-life, Catholic education, and marriage, family life and youth.

Bishop Cozzens and the staff of the secretariat have held five joint sessions and several individual consultations with leaders of evangelistic movements, renewal communities, religious communities and apostolic movements, as well as parish and diocesan

DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bishop Andrew Cozzens prays the eucharistic prayer during transitional deacon ordination May 8 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

catechetical leaders.

“These meetings, which continue to occur, are helping to develop ideas for the revival and form partnerships for carrying them out,” the document said.

During the U.S. bishops’ spring assembly June 16-18, Bishop Cozzens is scheduled to outline a plan for the National Eucharistic Revival, which will begin in the summer of 2022 and focus on dioceses and then parishes.

The document also outlines a proposal, subject to the approval of the bishops in November, of a possible National Eucharistic Congress in 2024.

“At every level of the three-year process, we will engage partnerships with ministries, apostolates and catechetical organizations to animate events at the local level and provide formation and resources for all ages

Pope prays for children who died in Canadian schools

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Pope Francis led hundreds of pilgrims and visitors in St. Peter’s Square in a moment of silent prayer June 6 for the Indigenous children who died in Canadian residential schools and for their grieving families.

After praying the Angelus, the pope told the crowd, “With sorrow I am following the news from Canada about the shocking discovery of the remains of 215 children, pupils at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in the Province of British Columbia.”

“I join the Canadian bishops and the whole Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people who have been traumatized by this shocking news,” the pope said. “This sad discovery further heightens awareness of the pain and sufferings of the past.”

The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation reported May 30 that using ground-penetrating radar an estimated 215 bodies had been found in unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The school opened in 1890 and, on behalf of the Canadian federal government, was run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate until 1969. After that, the federal government took over the administration and ran the facility as a residential building for students at day schools. It was closed in 1978.

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has been studying the residential-school system as part of a broader look at the treatment of the nation’s Indigenous communities, has records of 51 children dying at the Kamloops school, according to information posted on the website of the Oblates’ Lacombe province.

“At this point, there is not a clear explanation” as to why an estimated 215 bodies were discovered there, the OMI website said. “Clearly there is a significant discrepancy between their records and what was found by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. We will continue to work with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc

and stages of faith,” it states.

Plans call for diocesan revivals to be held from July 2022 to June 2023, the first year of the three-year effort.

There will be formation events for priests, as well as parish and young adult leaders.

National catechetical organizations will provide online training to form lay eucharistic missionaries for parishes. A national corps of eucharistic preachers, both ordained and lay, will be formed to lead diocesan and parish events.

Other events during this first year will include diocesan days of adoration and reconciliation in Catholic schools and parishes; Corpus Christi celebrations; diocesan eucharistic congresses — with both in-person and virtual dimensions; and diocesanwide days of eucharistic evangelization and service.

The second year is for parish revivals, from July 2023 to June 2024, with online training for small group leaders in every parish; catechetical resources available in video and print for small group formation sessions for all ages “and stages of faith”; continued collaboration with renewal movements and apostolates “to animate” parish eucharistic activities; and “teaching Masses,” adoration initiatives, sacramental confession and Corpus Christi celebrations in parishes.

Eucharistic missionaries will be trained and sent out to evangelize and serve those in need.

The document said organizations and apostolates partnering or collaborating on the three-year plan for the National Eucharistic Revival include the Knights of Columbus; McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame; the Augustine Institute; Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio; Our Sunday Visitor; the Hispanic Catholic Charismatic Renewal; the U.S. leadership of CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service); the Fellowship of Catholic University Students; Word on Fire; and the National Catholic Youth Conference.

HEADLINES u Third Catholic church in eastern Myanmar hit by military strikes. Military fire hit Our Lady, Queen of Peace Church in the village of Doungankha the morning of June 6. Church leaders said there were no casualties as people had fled to relatives’ homes and into the jungle. The church’s walls were badly damaged and the windows were broken by the shelling. It was the third church in Kayah state to be attacked by the military in two weeks.

JENNIFER GAUTHIER, REUTERS | CNS

A child’s red dress hangs on a stake near the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School June 6.

First Nation, through the RBCM (Royal British Columbia Museum), who curate our archives, in the search of understanding this distressing discrepancy.”

Of the 130 Indian Residential Schools in Canada, more than 70 of them were run by Catholic orders, with the Oblates administering the majority of them. In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called upon Pope Francis to visit Canada and make a formal apology to Indigenous survivors, their families and communities for the abuse suffered in Catholic-run residential schools.

During a visit to Bolivia in 2015, Pope Francis issued an apology to all the Indigenous peoples of the Americas for abuses suffered.

Archbishop Michael Miller of Vancouver announced June 2 a plan to offer increased support and transparency to First Nations people.

“The Church was unquestionably wrong in implementing a government colonialist policy which resulted in devastation for children, families, and communities,” he said in statement. He also reiterated the apology he gave before the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2013 and committed to five “first steps” to support those affected.

u Nun slain by three teenagers in satanic sacrifice beatified as martyr. Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, a 60-year-old member of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross, was beatified a martyr June 6, the 21st anniversary of her murder, in the northern Italian city where she served. Her killers were three teenage girls who knew Sister Mainetti from catechism class when they were younger. They wanted to sacrifice a religious person for Satan, according to their testimony in court. When the teens ambushed and attacked her, she prayed for them, asking that God forgive them. u Citing ‘systemic failures’ in handling abuse, cardinal offers resignation. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, 67, submitted his resignation to Pope Francis May 21, saying that bishops must begin to accept responsibility for the institutional failures of the Church in handling the clerical sexual abuse crisis. The cardinal, who is still more than seven years away from the normal retirement age for bishops, is the past president of the German bishops’ conference and is one of the main proponents of the German church’s “Synodal Path” process of consultation, prayer and discussion about reforms in the Church. u Pope promulgates revised canon law on crimes, punishments. A series of laws and procedures promulgated by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and, especially, by Pope Francis to protect children, promote the investigation of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and punish offenders are included in a heavily revised section of the Code of Canon Law. The revision of “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church,” one of seven books that make up the code for the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, was promulgated June 1 and will go into effect Dec. 8, Pope Francis wrote.

— Catholic News Service

JUNE 10, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9

ORDINATION

Grace-filled response to God’s call

Congratulations

Father Josh Salonek From your teaching parish of St. Jude of the Lake

As you celebrate your ordination to the priesthood on May 29, 2021.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!

From the Priests, Deacons, Staff and Parish & School Community of St. Joseph, West St. Paul

CAUSE FOR JOY Fathers Michael Reinhardt and Josh Salonek greet one another right after being ordained. ALL ORDINATION PHOTOS BY DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Men ordained at the Cathedral of St. Paul May 29

A

t a dinner table. In the confessional. On a pilgrimage trail. The places where the local Church’s newest priests strongly experienced the call to their vocations are varied, but the men are united in their “yes” to God’s request of their lives in service of his Church.

At the Cathedral of St. Paul May 29, Archbishop Bernard Hebda ordained seven priests: five men for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and two men — both Twin Cities natives — for the religious community Pro Ecclesia Sancta. The following pages detail each ordinand’s vocation story and hopes for their priesthood.

— The Catholic Spirit

• Father James Bernard — page 11 • Father William Duffert — page 11 • Father Brian Fischer — page 14 • Father Michael Reinhardt — page 15 • Father Josh Solanek — page 16 • Father Joseph Barron, PES — page 17 • Father David Hottinger, PES — page 17

Father Brian Fischer

As you begin your priestly ministry, Tu es sacerdos in aeternum, From the parishioners of the Cathedral of Saint Paul.

10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

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JUNE 10, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 11

Father Bernard brings language skills, job experiences to the priesthood

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

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t one time, Father James Bernard was on a track to teach English as a second language, with thoughts of going to another country.

“I had a college roommate from Japan, and several friends from Japan and other countries,” he said. “They were encouraging me to be an ESL teacher.”

That was in the late 1990s, when Father Bernard was going to St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud. He went back to earn a master’s degree there and also got a teaching license. He taught ESL in the Twin Cities for eight years after that, all the while thinking about the priesthood, the second option for his life that he had been considering. Those thoughts were inspired by random people who mentioned the priesthood to him.

“There were people who wouldn’t normally say that to me, like one girl that I knew from high school,” said Father Bernard, 42, who grew up in New Brighton and went to St. Anthony High School in St. Anthony. “She was a couple grades younger and I didn’t really know her all that well. And, she said, ‘Oh, I could see you being a priest.’ And, I just thought, ‘That’s kind of interesting.’”

He couldn’t get the priesthood out of his mind, eventually thinking that “the Lord was maybe using these people as messengers.”

During two years of working for his uncle at a restaurant and the eight years as an ESL teacher, Father Bernard continued hearing the call toward priesthood.

to be valuable,” he said. Even though I set down that career to pursue the priesthood, the Lord continues to use those experiences and those things that I’ve learned.”

FATHER JAMES BERNARD

“I was a perpetual discerner,” he said with a laugh. “And I realized, throughout that whole time, the Lord was always poking at me. There were times where I shut that out and just tried to do my own thing and avoid that calling. But, the Lord never stopped poking at me and pursuing that. And so, I just came to the realization that I couldn’t live with the regret of never having given it (priesthood) a shot.”

A priest at the Newman Center at St. Cloud State, Father Kevin Anderson, talked with him many times about the priesthood and encouraged him to pursue seminary formation. Finally, in 2015, Father Bernard enrolled at The St. Paul Seminary and began with pre-theology coursework.

As he looks back, he sees value in his work experiences before coming to

Father Bernard said he’s not fluent in Spanish, but he knows it well enough to have a desire to do Latino ministry. When he brought up this desire to the clergy assignment board, he said “they expressed that it was a big need right now.”

the seminary, especially teaching ESL. Students included those born in foreign countries as well as special education students in local school districts who struggled with English. He also worked with students who had emotional and/or behavioral conditions such as autism.

“I think it’s always valuable to have had interactions with different people of different backgrounds,” said Father Bernard, who noted experiences teaching ESL with the Missionaries of Charity and with the local Karen population, as well as working with the Latino population at St. Henry in Monticello, his teaching parish.

“Having had experience interacting with people who maybe don’t speak perfect English, just being able to understand them, understand where they’re coming from a little bit, I found

“I’m grateful” about the opportunity to minister to Spanish-speakers at some point, he said. “I’ve always enjoyed working with other cultures. You don’t do it perfectly, and my Spanish isn’t perfect. But, the Lord uses our scraps, the Lord uses our limited abilities to do great things. So, I’m very excited for that.”

At the same time, Father Bernard realizes these are challenging times to be ordained a priest, having spent the last year of his formation in a global pandemic, and having lived through the fallout of the death of George Floyd and the ensuing trial and conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He was ordained a transitional deacon a year ago with only a limited number of people attending, and he will enter ministry with racial issues on many people’s minds.

How will he address it?

“I think the conversation needs to be centered around our identity as children of God,” he said. “Our faith seems pretty countercultural right now. But, I think it’ll be key to preach the truth in a pastoral way and walk with people.”

Confessional question from priest helped spur Father Duffert to priesthood

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit

A

“light switch moment” in a confessional gave Father William Duffert the nudge he needed to start serious discernment for the priesthood. At the time, Father Duffert had been teaching for three years following college graduation.

After the priest absolved him of his sins and Father Duffert got up to leave, the priest asked him “out of left field” if he had ever thought about the priesthood, which he actually had for more than three years. Hearing the priest’s query made him realize that there might be some weight to the question he said had been on his heart.

“Honestly, it was like a spotlight all of a sudden was being placed right on that spot in my heart that I had not shared with anybody, and that I was trying to ignore,” Father Duffert said.

“The Lord was trying to show me that there is something to this calling that I placed on your heart since junior year of college, and it’s time to look at it.

God might actually be calling me to discern the priesthood,” he said.

Father Duffert, 32, grew up in Champlin, graduated from TotinoGrace High School in Fridley in 2006 and from St. Mary’s University in Winona in 2010, then worked as an English teacher. As a college student, he wanted to graduate, start working, get married and have a family. But deep in his heart, he felt a stirring, and a question remained about whether God

FATHER WILLIAM DUFFERT was calling him to the priesthood.

He recalled the “young, joyful priests” who served at his home parish, St. Stephen in Anoka. “Just seeing that constant variety of priests coming in with a lot of joy and being able to relate to them and thinking, ‘I think I do want to do that; I want to be a priest as well.’”

At the time a newly ordained priest himself, the priest in the confessional encouraged Father Duffert to start going to eucharistic adoration, which he did — after work and sometimes before. Whenever he’d be in the chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament, he asked the Lord to guide him. And, if priesthood was where God was leading him, to show him the path.

“That’s when I started noticing the

fruits of the Holy Spirit have been a big part of my vocation,” Father Duffert said. He noticed a lot of joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, love and other gifts of the Holy Spirit and a deep, abiding sense that the Holy Spirit was leading him to the priesthood.

Father Duffert said in priesthood, he was most looking forward to entering “those privileged moments that come with priestly ministry.”

As one example, part of his summer assignment as a deacon meant he accompanied a priest administering anointing of the sick.

“I quickly realized that that’s part of the ministry I’m looking forward to,” he said. “Just to walk with people, to walk with families, to walk with their loved ones in a moment like that is

something I’m looking forward to because it is a great privilege to be able to bring the light of Christ, to be able to bring Christ into those moments.”

He celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Stephen May 30. He also looked forward to celebrating a Mass at his teaching parish, Holy Family in St. Louis Park, and thanking the pastor and parishioners for being part of his vocation story and formation.

Father Duffert said it was good for him to see how the pastor at Holy Family, Father Joseph Johnson, works with all the parishioners to help them grow, and to participate in areas of parish life, such as the confirmation program and marriage preparation.

“I think those are some of my fondest memories — just being able to help out with those specific parts of normal parish life,” he said.

He said it was special this past year to minister as a deacon, preaching for the first time at Holy Family and baptizing children. And he learned how Father Johnson, even during a pandemic, still worked to help his parishioners grow closer to Christ.

Asked about his feelings leading up to ordination, Father Duffert said he kept going back to the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Each ordinand chose a Scripture verse for the back of his ordination prayer card. Father Duffert chose Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

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ran Laufle, a parishioner of St. John Neumann in Eagan, lost her husband just two weeks before the May 29 ordination Mass of her nephew, Father Brian Fischer, and six other men at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. But she wasn’t going to miss the Mass.

When Brian visited, her husband would ask, “When are you going to be a priest?” Her nephew was discerning just that, she said, and eventually decided to pursue that vocation. “So, we are all so blessed.”

As a nurse with room in her home, she recently cared for Father Fischer after he contracted COVID-19, developed viral pneumonia and was hospitalized for several days. “He’s special,” she said.

With Archbishop Bernard Hebda presiding, and four bishops and more than 100 priests from across the archdiocese concelebrating, five men were ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and two for the religious community Pro Ecclesia Sancta, which was founded in Peru in 1992 and among its ministries serves St. Mark parish in St. Paul. The two priests ordained for the community, Father Joseph Barron, 28, and Father David Hottinger, 34, are Pro Ecclesia Sancta’s first U.S. vocations.

Ordained for the archdiocese were Father Fischer, 47; Father James Bernard, 42; Father William Duffert, 32; Father Michael Reinhardt, 43; and Father Josh Salonek, 26.

Father Fischer will have an unusual assignment: living the lifestyle of a hermit while providing spiritual direction to priests, particularly priests of the archdiocese.

Concelebrating the Mass were Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens and three other bishops with strong ties to the archdiocese: Bishop Donald DeGrood of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut; and Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun, pastor of St. Maron Maronite Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Bishop DeGrood grew up in the archdiocese. Bishop Betancourt taught for several years at The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul.

Laufle said her family brought a good-sized contingent to the ceremony, which would not have been possible at the 2020 ordination, when attendance was limited to about 250 because of COVID-19 restrictions. This year, with the May 28 lifting of indoor social distancing restrictions by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, much of the Cathedral was filled with an estimated 1,600 family members, friends and other guests. The statewide requirement to wear face coverings has been lifted in most settings as well, with those not vaccinated against COVID-19 encouraged to wear masks.

Ordination shows Christ’s love In his homily, Archbishop Hebda wove the love of a marriage into a priest’s love of the Church, recalling the gifts his father gave his mother on their wedding anniversary — Valentine’s Day — to renew his expression of love. The archbishop wondered what gift St. Joseph would have given Mary each year, knowing it would have been something incredibly meaningful.

“You know that they gave Jesus such an incredible example of what it means to be married,” Archbishop Hebda said. “Joseph would have taught Jesus how it is that a man treats his bride. We see that in the way that Jesus indeed poured out his love for his bride, the Church.”

Archbishop Hebda suggested that Jesus shares his love for the Church by calling men to serve as his priests, to act in his stead. “The very person of Christ, every time the Mass is celebrated, every time absolution is offered,” he said.

Afte

The annual ordinations remind the faithful of Jesus’ great love for the Church, he said.

“Year after year, Jesus gives us hope,” Archbishop Hebda said. “He continues to show us his love through the ministry of the priests that he has so carefully formed.”

The archbishop shared several examples of how priests have served the faithful in the course of the past year, which he called the strangest year of his life.

“I received so many letters from the family members of those who had COVID and were anointed by our COVID Corps priests. I’ll never forget the images of those priests who were hearing confession in icehouses or other places.

I’ll never forget the image of priests who were celebrating outside in subzero temperatures or with snow on their forehead,” he said.

The archbishop said he knows how much priests’ ministry has meant at times of funerals, weddings and baptisms.

“They helped us to remember that, in spite of a pandemic, that Jesus loves his Church,” he said.

“I’m delighted to know that these seven men to be ordained today, like their brother priests who are represented here in such great numbers today, have great potential for making Christ’s presence in the life of this Church and beyond.”

Archbishop Hebda asked the congregation to pray that the new priests will be good “husbands for the Church,” for Christ’s bride. He also encouraged them, given the Year of St. Joseph, to ask for Joseph’s intercession that they be good fathers for their parishioners, and that they might love with the saint’s tenderness, his fidelity and his care.

“May the Lord bring to fulfillment the good work that he has begun in these men,” he prayed.

challengi a sign o

Seven men ordained priests large congrega

Story by Barb Umberger • Photos by

‘Moving through this time of grace’ After being ordained, Father Barron said he was grateful and overjoyed for the gift that the Lord entrusted to him “and just to see the love of the whole archdiocese here with us.”

Father Hottinger said his feelings following ordination were overwhelming.

“I don’t even know when I’ll be able to put words to it,” he said. “Right now, I’m kind of moving through this time of grace, but it’s overwhelming to see the love of God expressed in his Church and how generous he’s been with me, and through me; how he’s given me this opportunity to bring that generosity, that love to others. It’s really humbling. And I hope to be able to respond with grace and fulfill this new obligation and responsibility.”

Ric Blanchard, a parishioner of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis who attended the Mass, said he served as Father Reinhardt’s RCIA sponsor years back, when the now-priest was preparing to become Catholic.

“I was very blessed to be his sponsor,” Blanchard said, calling Father Reinhardt extremely bright with “a wonderful sense” of listening to what others have to say and offering words of wisdom based on what he hears.

A lawyer before entering seminary, Father Reinhardt understands with sympathy where other people are coming from, “so I think he’ll be a wonderful priest,” Blanchard said.

Father Duffert said the ordination was “amazing, and beautiful to have so many people with us,” compared to the limited seating and singing at last year’s ordination. He recalled “just a lot of peace and joy today.”

“Talking to all my classmates, it’s been a long journey for all of us,” he said. “Some of us have been in seminary for eight years, others six years.

And so today was just a really beautiful day as we kind of jump into priestly ministry.”

Father Duffert’s younger brother Eric, 29, said

Archbishop Bernard Hebda addresses the ordinands during his homily.

he didn’t see his brother’s faith journey to the priesthood coming.

“But watching him go through this discernment process, it’s all made sense,” he said. “I know he’s going to make an incredible priest. I can see it in him, and I can see him being called to it and being ready to be that beacon of Jesus to people.”

A parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka, Eric Duffert said his brother has been a big inspiration for him and has brought him even closer to his faith. “I’m a stronger Catholic today than I’ve ever been, and it’s probably because of him.”

Thomas Dzurik, 26, a parishioner of St. John Neumann in Eagan, attended the ordination with his wife. Father Salonek presided at their wedding as a transitional deacon last summer. Dzurik and Father Salonek met at Extreme Faith Camp years ago and “kept a good friendship,” Dzurik said.

“We wouldn’t miss this for anything.”

The customary offering of blessings by the new priests, suspended in 2020, followed this year’s ordination Mass. Six of the newly ordained priests had their own “chapel areas” as long lines of people queued up for blessings. Father Fischer,

still recovering from his b pneumonia, and often sea ordination Mass, deferred another date.

One attendee, Julie Van

NATION

JUNE 10, 2021 • 13

er a

ging year, of hope

s at the Cathedral of St. Paul; ation celebrates

Archbishop Bernard Hebda lays hands on Father James Bernard.

y Dave Hrbacek • The Catholic Spirit

From left, newly ordained Fathers Brian Fischer, James Bernard, David Hottinger and William Duffert bless bishops concelebrating their ordination Mass: From left, Bishop Donald DeGrood of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens; Archbishop Bernard Hebda; and Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt, auxiliary bishop of Hartford, Connecticut.

Eleanora Salonek, second from right, reacts during Mass.

At right is Joe Salonek. Eleanora is the niece of Father Josh Salonek, and Joe is his brother.

PARISH ASSIGNMENTS Father James Bernard, parochial vicar, St. Stephen in Anoka.

Father William Duffert, parochial vicar, Nativity of Our Lord in St. Paul.

Father Joseph Barron offers greetings and prayers to people after Mass.

Father Brian Fischer, eremitical life, Holy Trinity Hermitage in Stillwater.

Father Michael Reinhardt, parochial vicar, All Saints in Lakeville.

Father Josh Salonek, parochial vicar, St. John Neumann in Eagan.

Fathers Joseph Barron and David Hottinger, both of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, assignments unavailable at press time.

bout with COVID-19 and ated during the d his priestly blessing to

n Horn, said she was

visiting a friend in the Twin Cities from her home in San Diego and simply wanted to come.

“When I heard this was going on here, I wanted to take the opportunity to experience it,” she said.

Fathers William Duffert, left, and David Hottinger process to the back of the Cathedral at the end of Mass.

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JUNE 10, 2021

Deep moments of prayer led Father Fischer to a unique priesthood

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

FATHER BRIAN FISCHER

F

or 20 years, Father Brian Fischer led retreats and other efforts to share the faith on college campuses through St. Paul’s Outreach; in that time, he helped it grow into a national evangelization effort.

A member of Catholic lay association Community of Christ the Redeemer in West St. Paul, from which sprang SPO and high school outreach NET Ministries, Father Fischer also took final vows in 2004 as a consecrated lay celibate, a decision reached through prayer and spiritual guidance.

Prayer and an openness to God’s grace now have led Father Fischer, 47, to the priesthood, with an unusual assignment: Living as a hermit while providing spiritual direction to priests, particularly priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Shifting from active ministry to a life of prayer and penance for the Church, and particularly the archdiocese, is a dramatic change. It began in 2012, said Father Fischer, who grew up with his mother, Katherine LeDuc, and three brothers in St. Michael parish and school in Prior Lake.

“I experienced the Lord calling me deeper into prayer,” he told The Catholic Spirit May 20. “At the same time, I had a very active life in the new evangelization. Yet, here he (God) was, asking more from me in terms of contemplative prayer. As I followed those graces, I began to make silent, directed retreats.”

During a 30-day silent retreat in 2016, the Lord provided a new way forward, Father Fischer said.

It happened as God seemed to be speaking to him through Scripture stories.

“As soon as I heard the word ‘priest’ there was so much joy and confidence,” he said. “This was a sign of the Holy Spirit. Of course, I said, ‘Yes, I’ll give you whatever you want.’”

Father Fischer spent a year exploring the idea of priesthood in 2016. He wrapped up his responsibilities with

SPO and traveled to Italy to pray and discern priesthood and the contemplative life. He returned to the United States convinced he was being called to the priesthood, but also a life of prayer. He was accepted to the seminary in August 2017 and a month later was in Rome to study as a seminarian at a Dominican college and live with monks in a monastery.

After two years in Rome, he moved to a townhouse in Stillwater that was owned by St. Mary parish and reserved for retired priests but temporarily empty. There he finished his studies under the guidance of Bishop Andrew Cozzens, a national leader in seminary formation.

Father Fischer’s vows to the priesthood were not eremitical vows.

But he will live the lifestyle of a hermit under the direction of Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

Part of the challenge, the archbishop said, is living a life focused on the Lord while managing other responsibilities, such as shopping for household goods and maintaining family ties.

Each hermit prepares his own rule of life that establishes answers to those questions, he said.

Father Fischer said he does shop for groceries and other items, and he can visit his family.

“I don’t live in a cave and ravens don’t bring me bread,” he said, with humor in his voice. “I like to say I’m a regular guy with contemplative graces.”

Father Fischer is not the only active

archdiocesan priest called to the life of a hermit. Father Roy LePak, now retired but still a spiritual director for many priests and bishops, has been assigned to live as a hermit since 1990.

He lives in a remote area of the Duluth diocese.

“When I considered his (Father LePak’s) impact on the priests of the archdiocese, I thought what a wonderful thing for the archdiocese to have another priest serve in that way,” Archbishop Hebda said.

Father Fischer said where there is a ministry, there is a need.

“I do think there can be a poverty in the spiritual life of a very active person,” Father Fischer said. “There is a lot of doing, but not a lot of being.

How can you give what you don’t have?”

“Sometimes, we think the new evangelization requires more effort.

But what it really requires is a radical surrender,” Father Fischer said. “If we would just let Jesus in on the mission, it would be very fruitful.”

Father Fischer, who was recovering from a difficult bout with COVID-19 and viral pneumonia, was seated for most of the ordination Mass. He was vested by his spiritual director and mentor, Msgr. John Esseff of the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

He celebrated a May 30 Mass of Thanksgiving at the Cathedral of St. Paul with the Community of Christ the Redeemer community, including more than 200 SPO missionaries.

A PRIEST FOR PRIESTS Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who has known Father Brian Fischer since the two met in Rome years ago while Father Fischer was leading an SPO retreat at the Pontifical North American College, said he is convinced the Lord is working through him — just as the Lord is working through each of the men who were ordained May 29.

“He’s a great listener. He brings great consolation when he prays,” the archbishop said. “He has a deep love of the Church.”

Those gifts appear to be nurtured as he lives the lifestyle of a hermit, the archbishop said.

Hermits are called to a life of prayer and penance and stricter separation from the world.

While Father Fischer’s vows to the priesthood were not eremitical vows, he will be living the lifestyle of a hermit under Archbishop Hebda’s direction. Holy Trinity Hermitage has been incorporated as the concrete vehicle for him to engage in his ministry, with a board of directors who will help Father Fischer remain rooted in the Church, he said.

The hermitage is wherever Father Fischer is — right now, a townhouse in Stillwater, the archbishop said. Given that Father Fischer will be inviting priests to seek spiritual guidance and rest, the hermitage will probably require more room than a townhouse, he said.

“A life of the priest is so demanding that he needs an opportunity to find the Lord in silence and contemplation,” the archbishop said. “The expectation and hope are that priests will go see him. The Lord seems to be calling him to serve in this way.”

One of a bishop’s chief responsibilities is to his priests, the archbishop said, and he is delighted that Father Fischer will be a strong resource on which priests of the archdiocese will be able to draw. “I know there are great benefits that come to the local Church when we have someone praying for us,” he said.

To learn more about Holy Trinity Hermitage, email Father Fischer at brian.k.fischer@gmail. com.

Congratulations Father Brian Fischer on your ordination to the Holy Priesthood!

From your brothers and sisters at Community of Christ the Redeemer

More ordination day photos at

TheCatholicSpirit.com

COMMUNITY OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER Catholic Lay Association of Christian Faithful

— Joe Ruff

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JUNE 10, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15

Father Reinhardt’s 600-mile trek in Europe prepared him for God’s call

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit

F

ather Michael Reinhardt took a bit of a zigzag path to the priesthood, including a near-600-mile trek that crossed the Pyrenees that he said prepared him for God’s call.

Father Reinhardt, 43, grew up Lutheran in Rockford, Illinois, attending a Swedish Lutheran church where he stayed active through high school. While studying mechanical engineering as an undergraduate at Bradley University in Peoria, a note on the school bulletin board directed him to a local family who drove him to a nearby Lutheran church for services.

When he moved to the Twin Cities to attend the University of Minnesota Law School, he didn’t know any church-going Lutherans, so he accompanied a law school friend to his Baptist church. “It was a great community, a great group of young adults there, but I did not want to join that community unless I agreed with what they were teaching more than what I was brought up with as a Lutheran,” Father Reinhardt said.

Reading St. Augustine, Cardinal John Henry Newman, G.K. Chesterton and, more recently, Father Richard John Neuhaus had a big impact on his faith, he said.

He called them writers whose faith comes alive through their words in very different ways.

“They’re all very much their own person,” Father Reinhardt said. “I wasn’t looking necessarily in the Catholic direction, but for whatever reason, these men spoke to me. They’ve been instrumental in my journey into the Church.” And in retrospect, he noted, they’re all converts to Catholicism.

Father Reinhardt said he sensed over the years that he was being led into the Church. “And I didn’t want to, because I was Protestant and I didn’t know any Catholics.”

Father Reinhardt decided at the end of 2011 to cease attending the Baptist church and start going to

FATHER MICHAEL REINHARDT a Catholic church. He chose the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, close to his office at the time. “You see people from all walks of life, all ages, from all over the world,” he said. There he completed the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and entered the Church in spring 2013.

He had been practicing patent law for years, but grew bored with it and quit. With time on his hands and an adventurous spirit, Father Reinhardt bought an airplane ticket to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, an ancient pilgrimage route to the cathedral where the Apostle St. James the Great is believed to be entombed in Santiago de Compostela.

Father Reinhardt started on the French side of the Pyrenees Mountains and walked to Santiago de Compostela and the Atlantic Ocean. Walking about 17 miles a day, he traveled nearly 600 miles. “You meet people, you’ve got a lot of time to yourself and with God,” he said. “I (took) a lot of time to listen to God and to learn what that feels like.” His journey was one step at a time.

“That’s most of life,” Father Reinhardt said. “You do one small thing, that doesn’t seem to amount to much every day, but you keep on more or less in the same

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direction and you get places.”

He said that his simple lifestyle during his walking trip got him to a feeling of greater personal integration, of being able to listen for the voice that he could later hear.

“I started hearing the call that following winter,” he said of priesthood. By spring 2015, he thought “well, this is not quite going away.” Once he picked up his seminary application, he felt a powerful sense of confirmation. “It’s been a really beautiful journey.”

While he sought adventure with the pilgrimage, Father Reinhardt said, in retrospect, he doesn’t think he would have had the capacity to hear God’s call if he hadn’t made that journey.

“It’s been a real privilege to walk these years with my brothers,” he said of his fellow seminarians. “We’re blessed to be a part of this particular group of men. And it’s been a very rich experience.”

Father Reinhardt believes his legal background will be helpful, at least indirectly. He has withdrawn voluntarily from active law practice so he does not plan to offer legal advice. But the profession of law is about analyzing texts, such as statutes, regulations “and facts with a view to helping people,” he said.

This analysis happens on every level, he said, from the minutiae of textual analysis to big-picture policy questions, as well as what will serve a particular client.

“All of this is very helpful both in theology and in helping people,” he said.

“There are also the practical aspects of keeping track of important dates and getting the work done,” he added. “So I think my legal background will be helpful; it provides good foundational skills for big parts of what being a priest in ministry is about.”

Father Reinhardt said that as a young man who didn’t grow up Catholic, he never imagined he’d be a priest.

“Sometimes I joke that I’ve come a lot further into the Church than I ever expected, but I wouldn’t trade it.”

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16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JUNE 10, 2021

Father Salonek’s cousin, Extreme Faith Camp helped pave way to priesthood

By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit

H

aving a cousin who’s a priest might seem like a natural way to gravitate toward that vocation. It was true to some degree for Father Josh Salonek, whose first cousin is Father Paul Shovelain, ordained in 2014 and now pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton.

“It was good to see an example of a young man pursuing that, for sure, and somebody I know so well,” said Father Salonek, 26. “He was always on fire for the faith, always lived it out pretty radically.”

But, during childhood, Father Shovelain’s zeal for the faith intimidated Father Salonek, who wasn’t sure he could measure up to a man he called “a real witness of how to live out the faith.”

Enter Extreme Faith Camp, which planted a seed of joy that is blossoming into a vocation that was made official when Father Salonek was ordained May 29. He first attended the camp after finishing the sixth grade.

“It was there that I had an encounter with the Eucharist and Jesus Christ in the Eucharist,” said Father Salonek, who, like Father Shovelain, grew up attending St. Michael in St. Michael. “And, there I was filled with a great sense of peace and joy.”

Father Salonek went to Extreme Faith Camp every year from 2006 through 2015. He was active in youth group at his parish and even went to World Youth Day in 2011 in Madrid.

After graduating from high school in 2012, Father Salonek served for one

FATHER JOSH SALONEK

year in NET Ministries, then enrolled at the University of St. Thomas and joined St. John Vianney College Seminary to live and study with other men thinking about the priesthood.

During Father Salonek’s first year at SJV, Father Shovelain was in his final year of formation at The St. Paul Seminary before being ordained a priest. The two talked about the priesthood, and Father Salonek received further support from other men, including another seminarian from his parish, Father Andrew Zipp, who was ordained in 2019.

Another influential figure in his vocation path is John DeLozier, whom he described as a spiritual mentor during middle school and high school.

DeLozier, a theology teacher at BenildeSt. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park, invited Father Salonek to be part of a small group in middle school, and offered regular support and advice.

“Around junior year, I started trying to think a little bit further into the future,

trying to figure out what God wanted me to do, or maybe what I wanted to do with my life,” Father Salonek said. “And, John DeLozier encouraged me to do two things before I graduated high school.

One of them was to go on a Vianney visit. And so, I did that my junior year and I liked it.”

The second thing DeLozier suggested was doing an interview with NET about serving for a year as a missionary doing high school retreats, which Father Salonek did. Little did he know the powerful experience he would have that would catapult him toward the priesthood.

“There was this one time I went to confession that year (with NET), and at the end of it, the priest looked at me and he asked me if I ever thought of priesthood,” Father Salonek recalled.

“There was kind of a growing trend from high school onward of that call being brought up in my heart and in my prayer. And so, I kind of rolled my eyes at that (remark by the priest), and

I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ve thought about priesthood.’ And, he looked at me and he said, ‘Well, I see it written all over you.’”

These words got Father Salonek’s attention. “I was very struck by that,” he said. “He spoke as no other man has.”

The priest’s comments confirmed what Father Salonek had been sensing, and just months later he arrived at SJV in 2013 to begin his path toward a priestly vocation. He progressed steadily through his undergraduate work, then enrolled at SPS the following fall after his graduation from UST. At the end of April, he received some instructive words from a retired priest coming up on his 70th jubilee, Father George Welzbacher, who spoke during lunch to the entire ordination class of 2021.

“He told us, really simply: Keep your prayer, stay close to Mary,” Father Salonek said. “Those two, I think, are key.”

In turn, Father Salonek has some advice for the faithful he will serve in his ministry as a priest: “Please, please pray for me.”

The challenges of a continuing global pandemic and racial unrest “definitely makes me nervous,” he said. “There’s a lot that’s asked of priests, especially now.”

He believes that being young will help him in ministry, along with his sense of humor, which can be more important than people realize.

“I’m very risible — quick to laugh,” he said. “I think it’s really good to have a sense of humor. Sometimes, we can be so serious talking about the truths of the faith. It can bring a lot to the table when a joke is said. I think it can really put people at ease.”

The Rev. Fr. David Hottinger May God bless you, Father David, and the people you serve.

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JUNE 10, 2021

ORDINATION

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17

Father Hottinger finds anchor in Peru-based religious community

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

G

rowing up in St. Paul, Father David Hottinger, 34, went to Mass each Sunday. He said prayers before meals with his family. He attended Nativity of Our Lord parish and school, and at one point saw clearly that heaven is life’s goal and the best thing is helping others get there.

Then came graduation from high school in 2005 at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, college and a slow drift away from Catholic practices and teachings before a solid re-anchoring, this time in religious life, said Father Hottinger, in the days leading up to his ordination to the priesthood in the religious community Pro Ecclesia Sancta.

“It’s a miracle of God’s mercy that I came back at all,” Father Hottinger said. “But I did, thanks be to God.” Father Hottinger and Father Joseph Barron, also from the Twin Cities, are Pro Ecclesia Sancta’s first U.S. vocations. Their ordination marks an important step for the religious community, which was founded in Peru in 1992, Father Hottinger said.

“It’s a real sign that our charism has come to the States,” he said. Any barriers of language and culture will be further removed by U.S. vocations, he said, as Pro Ecclesia Sancta shares Christ’s love and call to holiness, particularly through devotion to his sacred heart and the Eucharist.

Father Hottinger said his journey away from the

FATHER DAVID HOTTINGER

Church was marked not by a rebellion, but by a lack of commitment fueled by uncertainty and doubt. But as he earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and history at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the Lord began to change that, Father Hottinger said. He began attending Mass again, discovered the writings of G.K. Chesterton, and by his senior year, was regularly visiting the adoration chapel at Holy Redeemer in Madison, just a block from where he was living and on his route to school and work.

In his senior year, he said, praying in that chapel, with thoughts of a life with a wife and family, he asked,

“‘Where is this headed?’ And I knew, or feared, that it would lead to the priesthood.”

Earning his undergraduate degrees but still uncertain what to do, he moved for nine months to Chicago, where he continued with his prayer life, lived with friends, found work and was admitted to the University of Minnesota Law School. He returned to the Twin Cities in 2011 and graduated with a law degree in 2013.

He also began attending daily Mass and weekly confession at St. Mark in St. Paul, where he met the Pro Ecclesia Sancta community, whose ministry includes the parish. Impressed by their spirituality and way of life, and discerning more deeply his own call to religious life and the priesthood, Father Hottinger joined the religious community. He took his first vows with Pro Ecclesia Sancta in 2015 and began formation for the priesthood.

He anticipates that his first assignment as a priest will be as an associate pastor at St. Mark, where he has been the last six years as he studied for the priesthood at The St. Paul Seminary. Father Hottinger celebrated his Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Mark as well May 30.

It will be good to dive more deeply into the parish community and help bring more souls to Christ, he said, much as he saw himself doing way back in grade school.

“It’s a challenge,” he said. “The work of a priest isn’t easy. But it will be a grace,” particularly in the Eucharist.

“It is a beautiful opportunity. If we have faith, (God) will do great things, as he always does.”

Father Barron’s missionary vocation inspired in grade school by saint’s life

By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit

‘FOR THE HOLY CHURCH’

F

ather Joseph Barron was in fifth grade when a priest visited his classroom to talk about St. Damien of Molokai, a 19th-century, religious order priest who left his native Belgium to minister in Hawaii and, ultimately, in a Hawaiian leper colony.

He led the building of houses, schools and a church, cared for the sick and buried the dead. Even when his community had scheduled another priest to replace him, Father Damien asked to stay to serve the lepers.

He contracted the disease and, after 16 years of ministering to others with leprosy, died in 1889.

Father Barron, 28, doesn’t recall who the storyteller priest was, but he was taken by Father Damien’s self-sacrifice, heroism and “adventurous spirit,” he said. As the priest greeted students before leaving, he took note of Joe’s name and told him he should take St. Damien as a patron saint. Before the leperpriest joined his religious order and took the name “Damien,” he explained, his name was Joseph.

St. Damien’s story, plus the priest’s suggestion, planted in Father Barron’s heart a particular desire: to become a priest — and specifically, a mission priest.

The idea surprised him. Then a student at Holy Family Academy in St. Louis Park, it was the first time he had considered it, but it took hold— so much so, that in order to dissuade the attention of a girl with a crush on him, he kept an index card in his pocket, which he showed her on occasion. On it he had written a single word: “priest.”

Father Barron’s interest in priesthood waned, however, in his middle school years, and baseball became his focus after his family moved west of the Twin Cities to Winsted. But, before his sophomore year of high school, his family returned to the Twin Cities and he enrolled in the inaugural class of Chesterton Academy in the west metro, where the liberal arts-based education explored the depth of the Catholic faith.

After graduation in 2011, he enrolled at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul planning to become a pharmacist. His first weekend on campus, on a whim he decided to walk to nearby St. Mark, and then go to confession. It was in that confessional that he met Father Humberto Palomino, St. Mark’s pastor and a member of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, a Perubased religious order serving St. Mark and other local parishes and schools. He was “blown away” by

FATHER JOSEPH BARRON

Father Humberto’s reverence, he said, and a couple weeks later, he began attending the Catholic Men’s Leadership group, which the priest led at St. Thomas.

Father Humberto encouraged the men to be deliberate about their prayer life, starting with just five minutes each day. Father Barron soon signed up for a 2 a.m. Saturday morning Holy Hour. The idea of priesthood grew stronger, and in January of his freshman year, he met with Father Humberto for advice. The priest invited the student to give more time to prayer, pondering a question from God: “Joe, I see that you’re willing to give me a little bit. What if you gave me everything?”

About a month later, he met again with Father Humberto and shared his continued desire for priesthood. “I think you should be one of us,” the priest told him.

The college student hadn’t considered that some priests are called to serve in dioceses, and others serve in religious communities or religious orders. He left the meeting feeling inner turmoil over his next steps, and he went to St. Mark to pray.

As he finished prayer, Father Humberto saw him and invited him to dinner with the other PES members. At that meal, “I felt a sense of peace. I felt like I was with family,” Father Barron recalled. And it was there, at that table, that he believes God gave him consolation in his calling — to priesthood, and to PES. “I thought the answer would come in Mass, but it came very naturally, during a meal,” he said.

After that, he was unwavering — even if his decision didn’t immediately make sense to family and friends.

In April 2012 he moved in with the PES priests and

Father Joe Barron and Father David Hottinger are the first American men to join Pro Ecclesia Sancta (“For the Holy Church”), an “ecclesial family” of men and women founded in Lima, Peru, in 1992 by a Jesuit priest. Its members serve in Peru, Spain, Ecuador, Uruguay and the United States — first by establishing itself in Sacramento, Cailfornia, in 2005, and then in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2009. St. Mark in St. Paul is in the care of the PES community, and its priests, brothers and sisters also serve in various roles at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, Assumption and St. Richard in Richfield, St. John the Baptist in Savage and the University of St. Thomas.

Priestly formation looks different for men who join religious orders compared to enrolling in seminary for a diocese. After time discerning while living with the PES community in St. Paul, in 2013 Father Barron and Father Hottinger moved to Peru for a two-year novitiate. They professed their first vows to PES in August 2015 — adopting the prefix “brother” — and returned to the United States to continue formation. Then-Brother Barron finished his undergraduate degree and enrolled at The St. Paul Seminary for intellectual formation the same year as then-Brother Hottinger.

The other three dimensions of priestly formation — pastoral, human and spiritual — were chiefly developed within the local PES community, an aspect that distinguished their formation from the men preparing for diocesan priesthood.

Last year, Brothers Barron and Hottinger professed final vows to the PES community in May, the same month they were ordained transitional deacons.

— Maria Wiering

brothers and began formation. He took the next year off college to work and discern, and then continued formation in the community. Last year, he made final vows to PES. The profession was May 10 — St. Damian of Molokai’s feast day.

It wasn’t until Father Barron was asked to speak about his vocation to a women’s group that he recalled his early desire to emulate St. Damian. As he reflects, he believes God prepared him in many ways for a life of ministry that may take him far beyond the Twin Cities through his large family, a good sense of humor, even moving around a lot as a kid.

“I feel like the Lord has blessed me with a religious family,” he said.

18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JUNE 10, 2021

FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER PHIL RASK

Faith but the size of a mustard seed

“This is how it is with the kingdom of God ….”

So begins the two parables from the Gospel of Mark on this Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. These parables are addressed to the whole Church and all its members to give us all courage and assurance when our efforts at building up the kingdom of God on this planet seem to produce such meager results.

The first parable contrasts apparently lifeless seeds which, once planted, grow into plants and trees, and the incredible variety of plant life we enjoy on this planet. Biology can tell us why this is so, the genetic processes, the chemical and physical principles that govern growth. And yet most of us are still delighted and surprised when something we’ve planted grows and produces vegetables, fruit and flowers. All human activity in growing things is not excluded, of course: the soil must be tilled, the ground fertilized and watered, and, like mosquitoes in Minnesota, there will always be weeds. You are not a successful gardener if your garden is overrun with weeds. Nevertheless, there is still something wondrous, mysterious about the slow, silent life that has developed out of our sight.

The hidden yet active power of the seed becomes the point of comparison in the Gospel parable about “the reign of God.” God is the one at work in building up the kingdom on this earth. That kingdom grows mysteriously, is growing even now, inevitably and inexorably, even though we do not always recognize where that growth is taking place, even though we do not know how it can possibly be happening in what we see around us. There is still work for human beings to do in building up the kingdom, work that may be likened to the work of a farmer or gardener, work that is like tilling and weeding and watering (fostering, protecting, nurturing).

All of us are charged with the work of cultivating the growth of

FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN

Summertime also is wedding time

Spring, summer and better weather also mark the arrival of “wedding season,” the time when many engaged couples are married. It is an excellent time to shift the topic of this “Faith Fundamentals” column to a series on the sacrament of marriage.

Marriage is one of the seven sacraments, and with holy orders is one of the two sacraments of commitment. The grace it provides keeps couples strongly bonded in love, and it maintains the strength of their union.

It is vitally important to the couple, their families, the Church and society.

There are many facets to the sacrament of marriage, and a series of informative articles examining different aspects of marriage is planned for you over the coming months. They will address basic teachings on marriage, how to prepare for the sacrament, and the centrality of love between husband and wife.

Sacred Scripture has much to say about marriage, and articles are planned on the biblical basis of marriage, how Mary and Joseph are role models for married couples, how God provides the couple with a superabundant supply of grace throughout their life together, how a marriage is patterned on the unbreakable covenant of love that God has with the human race, how a marriage is a three-way partnership between God and the two spouses, how the couple with their children constitute a house church, and how spouses are to serve each other and sacrifice for each other.

Finally, there will be a number of articles on the symbols of

the kingdom. We all have work to do. But it is God’s work, and God gives our efforts whatever success results. It ought to be enormously consoling that we are not personally and solely responsible for God’s Church. Like the original band of disciples, we are a motley crew at best. If we are impatient with what appears to be the impossibly slow growth of the kingdom, this is a parable that counsels patience. The “harvest” will come, but in God’s good time.

The second comparison or parable we hear in the Gospel has a slightly different, but related message. The mustard seed is very small, but the plant that results is fairly good size. In the mind of the Semitic storyteller, the size of the produce is unexpected, surprising, miraculous. As Jesus used this parable with his disciples, it is a message of reassurance in the face of what appears to be failure of his mission and message. It might appear to some impatient disciples that the work of announcing the advent of the kingdom had resulted pretty much in complete failure. Little did the disciples, only few in number then, realize that by the time this parable was written in the Gospel one generation later, small communities of disciples of Jesus would have spread as far as Rome. Within three centuries, the disciples of Jesus would become the official religion of the Roman empire, and then they would grow to become as numerous as the sands on the seashore. But that’s not the end of the story. In God’s own good time the disciples of Jesus would become something totally unexpected, something impossible except by the power of God. They would become an actual heavenly Kingdom.

The Gospel parables today call to us to a certain kind of waiting, but not lethargic passivity that lets things go because there is no hope. Where there is no hope, there is no commitment, and therefore no readiness for effort and self-sacrifice. What is essential for us in doing the work to which we have been called is patient waiting, characterized by prayerful discernment of God’s work in nature and history and in us. It is marked by an attitude of gratitude and collaboration. It is a matter of doing the human tasks, knowing that what seems so insignificant as to be hardly worth doing is like the mustard seed of the parable, growing to a harvest proportioned not to the human effort but to the divine intent. May God bring to perfection the good work he has begun!

Father Rask is the pastor of St. Odilia in Shoreview. He can be reached at rask@stodilia.org.

marriage, with particular attention to the wedding ring, the unity candle, the three flowers of marriage and the wedding cross.

It is God’s plan that a marriage would be strong, and that the bond between a husband and a wife would be permanent, unbreakable and indissoluble. A friend of mine was in a graduate degree program in social work at a secular university, and the sociology department did a study on the predictive factors for success in marriage. I do not know if the study was ever published. I cannot cite the source. The results of the study were amazing. According to their research, the top predictive factor for success in marriage is a couple that kisses each other before they leave for work each morning, and the second highest predictive factor for success in a marriage is a couple that prays together. Secular researchers, professors and graduate students were shocked that prayer is so vital to the health and wellbeing of a marriage.

If a married couple wants to have a strong relationship and succeed in marriage, they should place prayer at the top of their priority list, and not just meal prayers, but prayer together — and every day. One of the best ways is shared prayer, spontaneous, from the heart, in one’s own words, said out loud in each other’s presence, speaking to God with words of praise and thanks, and sharing one’s concerns, needs and special requests, worries and fears, disappointments and sadnesses, hardships, remorse for misdeeds and intention to do better. It is faith sharing at its best, extremely personal and intimate, and a powerful unifying force.

The other pillar of a couple’s prayer life is the reception of the sacraments. Couples that want a strong marriage attend Mass each week and approach the sacrament of reconciliation regularly.

The word of God, the body and blood of Christ, and sacramental absolution are rich sources of grace. The couple that prays together stays together.

DAILY Scriptures Sunday, June 13 Ez 17:22-24 2 Cor 5:6-10 Mk 4:26-34 Monday, June 14 2 Cor 6:1-10 Mt 5:38-42 Tuesday, June 15 2 Cor 8:1-9 Mt 5:43-48 Wednesday, June 16 2 Cor 9:6-11 Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 Thursday, June 17 2 Cor 11:1-11 Mt 6:7-15 Friday, June 18 2 Cor 11:18, 21-30 Mt 6:19-23 Saturday, June 19 2 Cor 12:1-10 Mt 6:24-34 Sunday, June 20 Jb 38:1, 8-11 2 Cor 5:14-17 Mk 4:35-41 Monday, June 21 St. Aloysius Gonzaga, religious Gn 12:1-9 Mt 7:1-5 Tuesday, June 22 Gn 13:2, 5-18 Mt 7:6, 12-14 Wednesday, June 23 Gn 15:1-12, 17-18 Mt 7:15-20 Thursday, June 24 Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Is 49:1-6 Acts 13:22-26 Lk 1:57-66, 80 Friday, June 25 Gn 17:1, 9-10, 15-22 Mt 8:1-4 Saturday, June 26 Gn 18:1-15 Mt 8:5-17 Sunday, June 27 Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mk 5:21-43

Father Van Sloun recently retired as pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. This column begins a new series on the sacrament of marriage.

Previous series on the Eucharist and confirmation can be found at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

KNOW the SAINTS ST. THOMAS MORE (1478-1535) Born in London, Thomas studied at Oxford, married and had four children. King Henry VIII took this brilliant lawyer into his service in 1518, knighted him and named him lord chancellor. But Thomas broke with King Henry when the king divorced Catherine of Aragon and set himself up as supreme head of the church in England. In 1532 Thomas resigned his post, and in 1534 was arrested when he refused to take the oath to the new Act of Succession. Imprisoned for more than a year in the Tower of London, he was convicted of treason and beheaded. His feast day is June 22.

— Catholic News Service

FOCUSONFAITH

JUNE 10, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19

ECHOES OF CATHOLIC MINNESOTA | REBA LUIKEN

How the Interstate Highway System changed churches When John Ireland dedicated St. Joseph church at North Fourth Street and Eleventh Avenue in Minneapolis on Sept. 15, 1889, it was not yet completed, but it was already beautiful. Its white brick and sandstone structure was like no other building in the city, with imposing towers on both front corners of the building. Inside, there was seating for 1,200. Stained-glass windows threw color across white walls, which was especially impressive in the early morning. Later, the white ceiling was painted and stenciled with brightly colored murals. In 1891, an ornate altar made from Italian marble was added, standing 24 feet high and 19 feet wide.

The church was well on its way to becoming a fixture in the German American immigrant community on the North Side. St. Joseph acted as a central gathering space for local residents and played essential roles in the lives of local adults and children. The parish choir was known to present musicals like “H.M.S. Pinafore” in cooperation with neighboring parishes. During the 1910s and 1920s, the St. Joseph Athletic Club basketball team had a reputation for winning, and the club hosted its own newspaper, baseball team and football program. The club also managed a three-lane bowling alley in the basement that was expanded in the 1930s.

Over time, the neighborhood changed. Following in the footsteps of its German residents came Mexican, Italian, Puerto Rican, Hungarian and Vietnamese immigrants who made the parish their home. Overall, the parish began to age, and in 1970, St. Joseph School closed due to declining enrollment.

The construction of Interstate 94 was a pivotal event in the church’s history. The building found itself in the path of the highway, and it was purchased by the state highway department. Efforts to save or move the building had little impact because by the 1970s, most parishioners who might have advocated for the church had moved to the suburbs. Ultimately, the building was demolished in 1976.

The parish itself was moved that year to the expanding suburb of Maple Grove, where it was named St. Joseph

WHY DO CATHOLICS DO THAT? FATHER JOHN PAUL ERICKSON

Going to confession and praying the Stations of the Cross Q Why do Catholics go to confession instead of directly to God for forgiveness?

A Well, to be frank, you’d have to ask

Christ himself, because he told us to do so (Jn 20:23). One of the first acts of the Lord after his resurrection was the bestowal upon the Apostles of his own power to forgive sins. Priests are also delegated by bishops to forgive sins, though in cases of emergency a priest needs no such permission. As the Father sent Jesus to announce the good news of salvation that is Christ himself, so too bishops and their priests also announce this salvation, especially through preaching and the celebration of the sacraments. And just as those in the Lord’s time approached him for forgiveness and

The Catholic Spirit asked our readers to share the single best piece of advice they can offer a new priest.

ARCHDIOCESAN ARCHIVES

The interior of St. Joseph church in Minneapolis before it was demolished in 1976. The parish moved to Maple Grove and was renamed St. Joseph the Worker. the Worker to distinguish it from nearby parishes.

About 30 families continued as parishioners of the new church, built with funds from the sale of the church in Minneapolis. Many statues, vestments and candelabras made the journey to the new building, along with the Nativity scene and four-bell carillon. The beautiful altar from the old church was segmented to make a main altar, chapel altar and baptismal font in the new building.

The parish of St. Joseph continued, but like its divided altar, it was not at all the same. Numerous parishes in the Twin Cities and across the country similarly saw their buildings razed or their parish neighborhoods separated.

In north Minneapolis, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis chose not to reopen St. Martin because, in part, of nearby highway construction. The other two parishes that served the Black community, St. Leonard of Port Maurice in south Minneapolis and St. Peter Claver in St. Paul, saw their parish communities bulldozed and fractured in the wake of the interstates.

Across the country, this pattern was repeated in Birmingham, Alabama, New Haven, Connecticut, Detroit and elsewhere. Even in Chicago, where the expressways were often intentionally routed to save church buildings, parish neighborhoods were not preserved. In Minneapolis, St. Paul and beyond, Interstate highways became a major factor in the decline of the urban Catholic parish neighborhood.

Luiken is a Catholic and a historian with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day. A related story about the history of St. Joseph the Worker ran in the May 27 issue of The Catholic Spirit, as part of ongoing coverage of the Year of St. Joseph underway. Read it at TheCatholicSpirit.com.

received it through his words and touch, so too now he extends his forgiveness through the sacraments of the Church, particularly through baptism and confession.

Now, on a purely human level, I think the confession of our sins to a priest is actually quite psychologically helpful — it means we must verbally acknowledge our failure, which is a good thing when done well; it means we hear it said “you are absolved,” which is a very good thing when heard well; and we are exhorted to make some kind of amends for the sins we have committed, which is an excellent and necessary thing.

Q Why do Catholics pray the Stations of the Cross?

And, do they only do that during Lent?

A The Stations of the Cross remind us of the Lord’s

great love for us, a love unto death. While especially appropriate on Fridays in Lent, they may be prayed on any Friday of the Church year, and indeed, on any day of the Church year. The devotion developed to accommodate Catholics who could not travel to the Holy Land to walk the actual route of the Lord’s Passion on pilgrimage. The first Stations of the Cross were developed by the Franciscans, who continue to have a special devotion and connection to this beautiful and beloved prayer.

Father Erickson is pastor of Transfiguration in Oakdale.

Send your questions to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Why Do Catholics Do That?” in the subject line.

The best single piece of advice I’d offer a new priest is the advice given to priests by the late Msgr. Ambrose Hayden, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul, who always tried to live out these words every day in his own life as a priest: “Say your prayers and love the people.”

Maureen O’Brien St. Louis King of France, St. Paul Work very hard at developing your relationship with Jesus, who should be not only your Lord, but also your most intimate friend. Allow him to introduce you personally to the Father, who loves you more than you can imagine and wants to reveal his heart to and through you. Always, always seek and accept the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, that your priesthood will be empowered and guided by the Spirit. Never ever be afraid to share with those you encounter, whether parishioners, other priests or total strangers, what God means to you and what you’ve experienced and learned knowing the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Ted Vernon St. Mary of the Lake, White Bear Lake My advice to a new priest is: Be a people person. Don’t be afraid to get involved with the people you serve. Don’t just call people your “friends” — be actual friends. Talk to everyone, learn their names and the names of their children, visit their homes. Work with your volunteers, doing all the simple tasks. March for life. Get out there, mingle. Don’t worry that you have to do everything. Your people will see what you do, and they will love each other and be true friends, and a fire will be lighted in your parish that will cause it to grow and flourish. Emulate Romans 12:9-13: “Do not let your love be a pretense, but sincerely prefer good to evil. Love each other as brothers should and have a profound respect for each other. Work for the Lord with untiring effort and with great earnestness of spirit. If you have hope this will make you cheerful. Do not give up if trials come, and keep on praying. If any of the saints are in need, you must share with them and you should make hospitality your special care.” My advice: Be a people person.

Liz Kirkeide St. Paul, Ham Lake The ordination of priests is an ecstatic occasion. On this day, the Church receives a tremendous gift — new priests filled with zeal, joy, excitement and anticipation for their priestly ministry. This is a day of grateful jubilation! I would tell the new priests, “Remember.” Always remember that God chose you: You prayerfully discerned God’s will and responded generously. Remember this, especially at times when we, your flock, forget that you are a priest. Look at your anointed hands PLEASE TURN TO READERS RESPOND ON PAGE 23

20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JUNE 10, 2021

COMMENTARY TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI

Finding God in the wilderness

The sense of place and pull to the wild that inspired Nick Ripatrozone’s new book are tucked in his very name. The rip-roaring surname is the name of a mountain town in central Italy, which the 40-year-old writer has visited.

Like his ancestors, Nick is drawn to the mountains, living with his wife and 8-year-old twins in Andover Township, New Jersey, in a colonial house on the edge of woods that have captured their imagination. It’s part of Bobcat Alley, a forested region with a distinct feel from urban New Jersey and a high incidence of bobcats. (He’s got the wildlife camera footage to prove it.)

Paying attention — to their comings and goings, to the shifting seasons, to the winding brook — is crucial to Nick’s craft and creed, as a writer and as a Catholic.

“The wild reminds us to be in awe of things beyond ourselves,” said Nick, a member of Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Sparta, New Jersey. “It gives us the opportunity to renew ourselves. It’s been a real influence for me as a writer and as a person of faith.”

Nature softens the Information Age that constantly churns out notifications, headlines and soundbites, he said. “It’s not something that responds to the minutiae

SIMPLE HOLINESS | KATE SOUCHERAY

Spirit-shaped family life

We experienced the feast of Pentecost only a few weeks ago, and hopefully the joy of the Holy Spirit filling us with his mission and purpose for our lives has not faded from our spiritual view. For it is a fact that Jesus overcame death and sent the Holy Spirit to fill us with his conviction and mission that we must now embrace, go out and transform the world. As the Catechism states, the knowledge of faith is only possible in the Holy Spirit, as it explains: “to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us” (CCC, 683).

Catherine Mowry LaCugna, Catholic theologian, clarifies this as she teaches “life in the Spirit is life in Christ.” She reminds us of Cyril of Alexandria’s statement “we become by grace what God is by nature.” In order to do this, LaCugna explains, “our ‘personhood’ is to become what God’s personal reality already is: boundless self-giving, love poured out for the sake of life, and that which creates inclusive communion among persons.”

In our fast-paced, overly-busy culture, this may not seem possible or something we could help our family attain, but imagine if it was! Imagine that our personhood was fulfilled in our self-giving love, poured out for the sake of those we care about most in our lives. This love would create the inclusive communion among those who have been given to us through the grace of the sacrament of matrimony and the children that have ensued.

This gift of communion among persons is extended to us through the Holy Spirit, which we received most fully on Pentecost. We remembered the coming of the Spirit as tongues of flame on the Apostles in the locked room, and that same Holy Spirit comes upon us, as well, filling us with our purpose and mission to serve others in the name of the risen Lord.

Are you willing to serve those in your family and

The wild reminds us to be in awe of things beyond ourselves.

Nick Ripatrozone

of daily anger or outrage that happens in the world. It transcends us.”

Nick is grateful his daughters have a love of nature, fostered by their daily “pilgrimage” to what they call “the magic tree” in their backyard. Their desire to be in the woods together, as a family, warms his heart and offers the hope that it will remain as adolescence nears.

The wilderness is a powerful antidote to social media and the endless pursuit of “likes.” Nick understands this well, as a high-school English teacher.

His students describe their Instagram and TikTok habits as “almost an existential battle,” he said. “One of the dangers of what we’re experiencing now is that our visual frame of reference is defined by the screen we’re looking at and becomes very, very narrow. We’ve become convinced that that’s where our attention should be, and it’s such a small and insignificant part of existence.

When you go outside, the scope expands tremendously,

ACTION CHALLENGE u Think of one small gesture of kindness you could do for someone in your family. Make time to show your love and care for him or her. u Be the light of Christ, the risen Lord, in your home this month.

Allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to burn brightly within you. give to them the love you have been given in the name of Christ? According to Norman Epstein and Donald Baucom, professors of psychology at the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina, respectively, when we are in an intimate relationship with our spouse, we ideally fulfill a strong need for “belongingness,” which brings about psychological well-being. The experience of belonging is realized in our need for affiliation, intimacy, altruism and succorance, or providing assistance to someone in need, all of which lead to a more secure bond with our spouse and family members.

In order to achieve this sense of belongingness for all family members, which will result in security for them, we must be willing to become what God already is: boundless self-giving, love poured out for the sake of life, and that which creates inclusive communion among persons. We can only do this when we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

What small acts of kindness or attentiveness could you extend to your family members to demonstrate your love for them? Perhaps it will be to say “no’’ to doing one more thing outside of your home and advocate for more family time. Perhaps it will be to take a walk with an adolescent, go for a cup of coffee with your spouse or offer to babysit for grandkids so their parents can have a night out. Whatever you do to express your simple, genuine care and love for your family members, do it in the name of the risen Lord, and bring the Spirit of Christ more fully into your family and into our world.

Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. She holds a master’s degree in theology from The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul and a doctorate in educational leadership from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.

along with all the layers and depth.”

That expansion is a timeless phenomenon. Nick realized many of his favorite writers were inspired by the wild — great minds with varying styles and backgrounds. “What does that say about the wild as a place of storytelling and creativity?” he wondered.

The answer is in his book “Wild Belief,” a new release from Broadleaf Books. It illuminates the impact of nature on Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver, among others.

The book began with copious research in 2019, when Nick pored over microfilm in the library for hours, producing a mound of yellow legal pads. It was completed in the early months of quarantine, which provided the time for in-depth revision.

Nick holed up behind the Mac in his home office when the girls slept, fueled by coffee and the adrenaline of a night owl.

“Writing is part craft, but there’s definitely some magic when it works right,” he said. “I feel like the late-night hours are when, as a person, you open up to the things you don’t think about during the day. For me it’s been a way to get into the spiritual experiences of these writers and try to inhabit their lives and how they experience the wild.”

Summertime invites us to follow their lead, Nick said. “I hope my readers will be inspired by these writers and will explore outside and be like kids again. It feels like the right time.”

Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.

LETTERS Horror of prejudice The discovery of 215 bodies of indigenous children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada is a somber reminder of the horrors that can happen when Catholics act with prejudices of the day (see this edition, page 8). We have an obligation to treat our indigenous relatives better. There is no alternative. Some questions to consider: Am I placing my own comfort before another’s comfort? Am I acting with an open heart, or reacting from fear, hatred or prejudice?

Am I reaching across boundaries created by humans, or building them higher? How can I use my gifts and privileges in service to others? To finish with a prayer: Creator God, let me see with your eyes instead of my own, let me hear with your ears instead of my own, let me reach out with your hands instead of my own, let me love with your heart instead of my own. Amen.

Lynnsey Plaisance St. Timothy, Blaine

Vaccinate for others Pope Francis received the vaccine and has encouraged everyone to do the same (re: “Vaccines shouldn’t have abortion ties,” Letters, May 27). No restrictions as which vaccine to receive. Important part, he said, is to do it for the community.

Esther Lenartz St. John Neumann, Eagan

North Minneapolis reminisces I enjoyed recent Catholic Spirit articles on north Minneapolis parishes (“Maple Grove parish grew out of St. Joseph church in Minneapolis,” May 27). I received baptism, first Communion and confirmation and then graduated from Ascension, PLEASE TURN TO LETTERS ON PAGE 21

JUNE 10, 2021

COMMENTARY

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 21

ALREADY/NOT YET | JONATHAN LIEDL

As the loose ball bounced low across my path, I reflexively lifted up my leg ever-so-slightly and re-directed it into my hands.

Well-versed in the rules of basketball, my brain immediately registered what had just happened.

That’s a “kick.” I had intentionally used my legs to manipulate the ball, which, even in a pick-up game, should result in a stoppage of play and the other team’s possession.

And yet, perhaps in less of a decision than an instance of in-the-moment autopilot, I played on. My nearest opponent, however, had seen what had happened, and vocalized the same conclusion that I’d already drawn but didn’t act upon.

“That was a kick, wasn’t it?”

Now I was in trouble, caught in a double-team between the truth and my own fragile sense of self.

I had already played on. To admit that, yes, I had used my leg to move the ball into my hands would be to both forfeit the advantage that my team had gained, but also to admit to my fellow ballers that, at best, I was sloppy or ignorant of the rules, and at worst, a cheater.

And so I lied.

“No, it wasn’t intentional,” I said with some forced confidence, hiding behind the fact that if the ball hits a leg or a foot inadvertently, there’s no “kick” to be called.

“Oh, maybe I didn’t see it clearly,” responded my interlocutor, probably rightfully dubious of my claim, but not looking to push the issue.

Play moved on, and aside from some discussion about the finer points of “kicks” and “non-kicks,” the incident was largely forgotten and seemingly inconsequential.

I don’t think it affected the outcome of that game, and I doubt any of the guys I was playing with remembered it.

But I did. In truth, the fact that I’d lied stayed with me all morning, as I sat in the acid bath of an unsettled conscience. Obviously, it wasn’t that big of a deal, telling a bit of a fib in a parish pick-up basketball game with friends. But then why did I do it? Why did I lie?

I’ve already alluded to the immediate underpinnings of the lie: the perceived threat to myself, my reputation,

Congratulations to

Fr. Josh Salonek on your ordination to the priesthood.

May God abundantly bless your vocation.

Someone who lies to gain an advantage or to hurt another clearly does not trust the providence of God, but the same could be said for someone who tells a mistruth out of a desire to avoid confrontation or unpleasant feelings. my status in the eyes of others that acknowledging that I’d kicked the ball and kept on playing would’ve entailed.

But that line of thinking itself is built on another lie, a more fundamental lie. And that’s the lie that reality — the facts and circumstances in which I find myself — is not “for me,” but is somehow opposed to my well-being. God, according to this lie, is not a provident Father, and I therefore need to provide for myself, even if it means deceiving others and putting myself at odds with the truth.

I think this big lie underlies all other falsehoods in our lives, be they the malicious and intentional kind or the “little white” variety. Someone who lies to gain an advantage or to hurt another clearly does not trust the providence of God, but the same could be said for someone who tells a mistruth out of a desire to avoid confrontation or unpleasant feelings.

In the Catechism’s treatment on lying (2482-2486), a significant focus is on the harm done to others by our lies. As University of St. Thomas philosophy professor Greg Coulter would say in class, lying is more morally significant than we often think it is, because it distorts another’s vision of reality and therefore their ability to

LETTERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 class of 1950. But I spent many days in the care of my grandparents, who lived a single block from St. Joseph’s. The pastor was Father Theodore, OSB, and the Benedictine nuns in their school wore a different habit than our Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet teachers. My cousins attended St. Joe’s.

I distinctly remember two things about St. Joseph’s: the daily tolling of the Angelus during weekdays — “ding dong” from the left steeple, then “ding dong” from the right — and also the “Pieta” replica just to the right upon entering the church.

iSTOCK PHOTO

Little lies — and the big lie underneath

engage with it. (I hope politicians and members of the media are listening!)

But I think it’s hard to ignore the damage done to the one telling the lie. Every lie told allows the false logic that providence cannot be trusted to take greater hold in the liar’s heart, preventing his ability to adhere to reality — the basis for freedom — and replacing the capacity for receptivity, wonder, gratitude and joy with a grasping, clutching for control that is ultimately rooted in fear.

Because lying both stems from and also perpetuates a falsified relationship with God as Father, this is where our focus needs to be for overcoming our tendencies to tell lies, big or small. Daily or frequent prayer, which gives thanks to God and acknowledges his love and his power, allows us to root ourselves in the fundamental truth that he is provident — in control of all the circumstances of our lives and even more desirous of our good than we are ourselves. Only from this posture of trust in the Father can we embrace the truth and adhere to reality — even when doing so might have unpleasant consequences.

So, Joe, I’m sorry. You were right. I kicked the ball.

Liedl writes from the Twin Cities.

I’ve been to both original and current structures of St. Joseph’s in Maple Grove, which added “the Worker” to its name when it moved, but do not recall seeing that Pieta there.

David Burke St. Joseph, New Hope Share your perspective by emailing TheCatholicSpirit@archspm.org. Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit.

22 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JUNE 10, 2021

Why I am Catholic

P

By Kathleen Gavlas DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

ut simply, my need to know the truth is why I’m

that it was errant, encrusted with man-made traditions,

Catholic. To be clear, I don’t mean secular truth

idolatrous, that it misled its people with its errors, etc. But

— I needed to know which Christian communion

I had begun to read works that convinced me otherwise,

had the fullness of truth I longed to embrace.

I was brought up Episcopalian, and believed I had all

beginning with C.S. Lewis, whose writings we read avidly and used in our apologetics. I saw that as a devout

the truth I needed to love God and my neighbor. But a

Anglican, he defended traditional Christian beliefs passed

radical change in our lives tossed that assurance aside. At

down through the centuries, ones held in common with

age 13 my widowed mother took us from our church into

other liturgical communions.

the Assemblies of God. I learned many good and useful

Then I read J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Ring” trilogy, and though

things there, as I gave myself completely over to “the

not an apologetic work, its Catholic imagery warmed

movement,” trusting that I had truly found the “fullness

my heart towards venerating Mary and the saints.

of the faith.” But after 20 years, in which I earned a B.A.

John Anthony O’Brien’s “The Faith of Millions: The

in Bible, I came away exhausted after trying to hang onto

Credentials of the Catholic Religion” deftly refuted my

some of their beliefs that I could no longer accept — ones

misunderstandings about the Catholic Church’s teachings.

vital to the truths of our salvation.

And so, after a lot of reading, with much prayer, I felt my

As I had read the Gospels, I found verses that led me to question our interpretations, such as Jesus commanding us to “eat his body and drink his blood” (Jn 6:51-47). We

fears dissolve, and came to believe that the fullness of truth subsists within the Catholic Church.

I attended RCIA and entered the Church — now more

were taught to read such verses metaphorically, and yet,

years ago than the number of years I spent outside her,

I saw no hermeneutic that supported doing so. We said

lost and confused. As a Catholic I have found the truth I

that we didn’t believe anything not explicitly stated in

sought, and the faith that nourishes my soul and keeps me

Scripture.

grounded in Christ, and in the Church he founded.

And yet, we believed many things outside that definition, things, I later learned, that had been hammered out by the Catholic Church centuries ago, when Scripture alone wasn’t enough to settle difficult theological matters. I saw that “sola Scriptura” couldn’t

Gavlas, 72, and her husband are longtime members of Epiphany in Coon Rapids. She is a published author and her husband is a retired computer tech. They are aunt and uncle to their many brothers’ and sisters’ children.

settle differences in interpretation of key passages in our day, either. I prayed a great deal over these things, asking God to guide me to the one true Church, even if I had to go to the — “gulp” — Catholic Church to find it.

I feared the Catholic Church because we were taught

“Why I am Catholic” is a new ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic?

Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholicSpirit@ archspm.org with “Why I am Catholic” in the subject line.

JUNE 10, 2021

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 23

CALENDAR SPEAKERS +CONVERSATION

PARISH EVENTS

Heart-to-Heart book study for victim/ survivors — Through June 30, first and third Wednesdays of the month: 6:30–8 p.m. Discuss “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead” by Brene Brown. Free. Register at kaempfferp@archspm.org.

Summer book club — June 2-July 22: 7–8 p.m. Wednesdays and 10–11 a.m.

Thursdays at Risen Savior, 1501 E. County Rd. 42, Burnsville. “A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota.” Virtual or in-person. Register at risensavior.org.

“Life After COVID: An Evening of Reflection for Mothers” — June 23: 7 p.m. at St. Thomas More, 1079 Summit Avenue, St. Paul. The STM Moms Group will reflect on challenges and graces of living with COVID this past year and moving forward as restrictions lift. Facilitated by Susan Stabile. morecommunity.org/after-covid

CALENDAR submissions DEADLINE: Noon Thursday, 14 days before the anticipated Thursday date of publication. We cannot guarantee a submitted event will appear in the calendar. Priority is given to events occurring before the next issue date.

LISTINGS: Accepted are brief no­tices of upcoming events hosted by Catholic parishes and organizations. If the Catholic connection is not clear, please emphasize it in your submission. Included in our listings are local events submitted by public sources that could be of interest to the larger Catholic community.

ITEMS MUST INCLUDE the following to be considered for publication: uTime and date of event uFull street address of event uDescription of event uContact information in case of questions ONLINE: TheCatholicSpirit.com/calendarsubmissions

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Alpha — June 2-Sept 1: 6:30–8 p.m.

Wednesdays at St. John Neumann, 4030 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan. Alpha sessions explore the Christian faith. Includes meal, video and small group conversations sjn.org/events/alpha-program-2021 16th Annual Northeast Eucharistic Procession — June 13: 3–5 p.m. at Holy Cross, 1621 University Ave., Minneapolis.

Seven-church walk ending at All Saints with Benediction. Shuttle bus between parking lots. ourholycross.org/events Catholic Father’s Day — June 19: 4:30–8 p.m. at Maternity of Mary, 1414 Dale Street N., St. Paul. Bishop Andrew Cozzens celebrates 4:30 p.m. Mass followed by a 1.5-mile eucharistic procession to Como Lake, then food and fellowship. Register at archspm.org/fathers.

Preschool Play and Learn — June 29: 6:30–8 p.m. at St. Peter, 2620 Margaret St. N., North St. Paul. An outdoor play and learning experience for families with children 2-5 years old. Games, music, explore the outdoor learning environment and receive information about how to support healthy development. Free children’s backpacks. gdeziel@stpetersnsp.org

PRAYER+RETREATS Blessed is She Fly Revival — June 11 and 12: 6–9 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 835 Second Ave. NW, New Brighton. Women’s prayer, worship and talk. $35 for one night, $60 for both. blessedisshe.net Exultemus — June 19; July 17 and Aug 14: 7–8 p.m. at St. John the Baptist, 680 Mill Street, Excelsior. Adoration, praise and worship, and a brief reflection at 7 p.m.

Confessions available. During the summer months and weather permitting, events will take place on the back lawn. sreid@stjohns-excelsior.org

INVESTIGATION

Archbishop Bernard Hebda has asked all parishes in the archdiocese to host Synod Small Groups this fall for Catholics to learn, pray and share ideas on three focus areas ahead of the 2022 Archdiocesan Synod.

Focus areas are: Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, and forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young. Small groups will meet for six, 2-hour sessions between midSeptember and mid-November. Watch for communications from your parish about how to participate in a small group there, and the specific dates and times they’ll meet. Learn more about the Archdiocesan Synod process at archspm.org/synod.

OTHER EVENTS “Life Is Wonderful” virtual walk/run — May 9-June 20: “Life is Wonderful: Let’s Step Up” virtual walk/run with Abria Pregnancy Resources. Donate or participate. supporters.abria.org Life Legal Defense Foundation Annual Dinner — June 12: 6–8:30 p.m. at Knights of Columbus, 1114 American Blvd. W., Bloomington. Speaker Melody Olson. Contact Russ Rooney at 612-875-2733 or lifelegalmn.wpcomstaging.com.

Natural Family Planning (NFP) — Class listing at archspm.org/family or call 651-291-4489.

Restorative justice events — monthly: 6:30–8 p.m. via Zoom. Open to all victim/ survivors; first Mondays for those abused by clergy as adults; second Tuesdays for friends or relatives of victims of clergy sexual abuse; third Mondays victim/survivor support group; third Wednesdays survivor peace circle; fourth Wednesdays for men sexually abused by clergy/religious. Paula Kaempffer, 651-291-4429. archspm.org/healing

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 suffered abuse,” he said.“Although the MRB found that the failings were not intentional, the resulting negative consequences in our community were profound. Again, I express my deepest apologies to those who were harmed.”

He noted that today “we have a much better understanding of the extent of the harm that was caused by priests and others who abused minors, in no small part due to the brave survivors and their families who have come forward. They have helped us to adjust our priorities.”

“The work that two decades ago fell to Father McDonough as vicar general is now undertaken by a team of 10 laypeople, with solid professional backgrounds in civil law, canon law, law enforcement, safe environments and survivor outreach,” Archbishop Hebda said. “I am grateful that the faithful of the archdiocese have enabled us to both bring about meaningful change and continue to improve our standards.”

READERS RESPOND

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 often and remember. Remember how God uses your hands to perform the greatest miracle on earth daily on the altar and to feed the faithful with Jesus’ body and blood. Your hands are often raised to bless and absolve the repentant sinner.

Those anointed hands pour water on heads, baptizing them into the family of God. Remember it is your hands God needs to anoint his sick and dying children. Remember how much Jesus and the Church need you. Without priests, there is no sacrifice of Mass. A senior priest once told us of the practice of kissing the hands of a newly ordained priest, after receiving his blessing. What a beautiful and significant gesture of respect and gratitude! All new priests: We welcome you lovingly.

Lilee Perera Nativity of Our Lord, St. Paul “Readers Respond” is a new feature in The Catholic Spirit. Respond to our next question: What pilgrimage experience made a difference in your life and why? in 200 words or less to CatholicSpirit@archspm.org with “Readers Respond” in the subject line.

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24 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

JUNE 10, 2021

THELASTWORD Wrestling calves and winning trust: how a Jesuit priest found his calling Father Christopher Collins will serve as vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul beginning July 1.

The 49-year-old Jesuit priest, who attended UST in the early ’90s, replaces Father Larry Snyder, who is retiring from the position after assuming it in 2015.

By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit

Q Tell me about your time as a UST student.

A My faith really came alive at

St. Thomas in a much more profound way, partly because of the intellectual life and partly because of the service work I was drawn into, which I found really moving, being with the poor, simple living. The third big factor was the prayer life and going to daily Mass. The vocation snuck up on me.

Q What attracted you to the Jesuits?

A The breadth of it! They did a lot of

different things in addition to being priests, and that was appealing to me. The humanism was a part of that vocation. I’ve ended up getting involved in all sorts of areas I knew little about: prison re-entry programs, workforce development, all kinds of random stuff where people are in need. That all culminates in the sacramental life, but it’s the broader engagement with humanity.

Q And being at a university exposes you to a lot of different things.

A That’s why a university is such a great

place to work. There are people who know about everything, totally different areas of expertise. It’s an opportunity for me to learn from them, and also it’s an opportunity for the Church, through a priest, to have a presence in all those different places. It’s infinitely interesting.

Q In some ways do you feel like you’re just beginning?

A Yeah, exactly. I can’t believe I’m almost

50, because it feels like I’m just getting going. It’s really stimulating, intellectually and for the heart. The more you learn about the needs of the world and different populations, how can we not be affected and come up with smart solutions?

Q What’s the key to being able to learn?

A Humility and curiosity. Enjoying

meeting different kinds of people. Jesuit formation prepared me well. It exposes you to all different stuff where you constantly feel out of your element. I got used to that early on. It’s OK to not be an expert. I don’t have to know hardly anything; I don’t need to have answers. I just need to show up and be present.

I don’t have to fix anything. In fact, there’s very little I can fix. You just want to cooperate with grace, with the Lord, and show up.

Jesuit Father Chris Collins, incoming vice president for mission, during a Holy Thursday Mass April 1 in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Q Before assuming this position, you were at St. Louis University, leading that campus in prayer. What helps draw college students into prayer?

A Some people

feel skittish about prayer, especially real rote prayers. It feels like: “Well, I don’t belong here. I’m not that kind of person.” But even at big events like a graduation when who knows where everyone’s coming from, at a Catholic university, we take a moment to create space to remember where we’ve been. That’s a powerful part of prayer: memory. You can’t help but be grateful when you use your memory. It’s a gentle recognition: “Maybe God is the source of everything good.” It’s a human way to enter into that experience: Prayer is just paying attention to God.

Q What does it look like when

St. Thomas is holding close to its mission?

A There’s a sense of community that has

a purpose in the world. God needs us to serve and love in the world. We have a different motivation for looking at the needs in the world and try to be present.

In a way, it’s like the ministry of Jesus. By and large, he mostly just roams around, and whoever he meets, what needs to happen, happens. There’s an apparent randomness to Jesus’ ministry. It’s not like, “I have 12 days and I gotta cover

PHOTOS COURTESY MARK BROWN, UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

these four cities and cure 12 percent of the lepers.” He just moves around with his disciplines and what he has to bring is what the world needs.

Q Many of us feel too busy to be that random.

What can we learn from Jesus’ availability to be so random?

A We can learn a lot. Before he begins

his mission, he goes for his baptism, and what happens there: He humbles himself and hears his father say, “You are my beloved son, and in you I am well pleased.” If I feel beloved, I’m going to go out and try to draw other people into that experience. The Father doesn’t say, “Go, do this and that.” He says, “You are my beloved,” and what naturally flows out of this is to offer that love to others.

Q When the St. Thomas president

announced your hiring, she noted that you’re “eager to engage in relationshipbuilding” within the community and Twin Cities metro. What are your hopes for that relationship building?

A That’s where the randomness comes

in. I’ll just get out there and see what happens. I don’t have any master plan.

Q In 15 years as a priest, you’ve served many people and cultures, including

being pastor for the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

A I had four little country parishes on

the reservation. At first, I tried to set up programs — “OK, let’s have an adult faith formation” or “let’s have a parish council” — and nobody wanted to do that. So instead, I mostly just drove around and visited people at the hospital or the convenience store or basketball games or rodeos.

Brandings are a big social event. It’s a little gruesome, when they’re castrating these calves. They had a schedule, and they all have to help each other — and then put on a big feed after.

Q Were there spiritual discussions during the brandings?

A Not a whole lot right on the scene. But

it sure made a difference if I showed up or if I tried to wrestle down some of those calves.

You had to dig your own grave at the funerals. They didn’t have backhoes.

After the prayers, all the men took turns shoveling the hole. I would take my turn till I got worn out. That went further than almost anything I could do.

Showing up at the basketball games also helped. People trust you more when you’re doing normal stuff, and then they’ll let you in on the more important parts of life.

Congratulations

Father Michael Barsness on your new assignment!

We thank you for your service to the St. John’s community. May God continue to bless you in your ministry.

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